Have you ever heard of a Loreo watch? Yes, me neither until I stumbled upon this Loreo Submariner homage watch.
I tried to do some research on Loreo as a company and there isn’t much information online that was readily available. Basically from what I gather is these watches are manufactured in China somewhere.
For under $100 this watch packs in a lot of features. I originally purchased this watch as part of my sub $100 dive watch shootout. You can read that post here, but this is the full review.
Here we go.
Watch Specifications
Case diameter: 40mm
Case thickness: 13.7mm
Weight: 150 Grams
Movement: Seagull
Band width: 20.0mm
Lug to lug: 48.1mm
Lug width: 20.0mm
Water resistance: 200M
Crystal: Sapphire
Case
The case is a pretty simple mix of brushed and polished surfaces. Overall combined with the dial it glints and gleams in the sunlight.
You can tell by wearing it, this is a solid case.
It doesn’t contain any chamfering and is pretty basic in design, but they didn’t screw anything up either. Basic is often good.
Crown
The Loreo has a really nice crown. It is smooth and is a proper screw down crown. It has the Loreo L on it, which doesn’t really do anything for me personally, but it is a nice touch.
The operation of the crown was nicer than I expected it to be, a nice surprise indeed. I have no complaints in this area.
I am going to include the pushers in this section, they actually unscrew and operate the inside dials as you would think they would. I was surprised they operated nicely.
Crystal
Unbelievably this watch contains a sapphire crystal. This is not a case of false advertising, this crystal is actual sapphire. I don’t think it has an anti-reflective coating on it, but at under $100 that’s pretty impressive.
Bezel
When I received this watch, if I’m being honest, I could barely turn the bezel. It actually got worse the more I wore it. After a month I was barely able to turn it.
Then I took a rag to give me a better grip and turned it as hard as I could and now it works great. I have no clue what the problem was, but I give honest reviews. After several months it’s still working great, even underwater on a dive.
Now this isn’t the greatest bezel in the world, it is not smooth and it does have some back play. It’s about what I would expect on a lower end watch, but functional and easy to grip.
There is no insert in the bezel, this is actually a relief, very similar to a Rolex Yachtmaster. Overall it is unique and visually appealing. I am a fan.
Strap/Bracelet
For a sub $100 watch the bracelet isn’t bad. You can order it with a strap, but I’m a bracelet guy, and if a watch comes with a bracelet that’s usually the one I purchase.
The entire bracelet is brushed, no polishing on any of the links. I think overall it looks very nice. I wouldn’t call this an oyster bracelet, but it’s not far off.
It adjusts with pins, obviously you would like to see screw in links, but I don’t know of any watches at this price point that come with them.
The clasp is pressed, not machined, but it’s nice and easy to operate. Again, for the price this is a good solid clasp that is easy to operate.
Dial
The color on the one I ordered is really nice. The powder blue dial, very reminiscent of the Rolex Daytona, is nicely done. Because of the dial this is really a beautiful watch.
The markers appear to be applied, at this price I’m not sure how you do that and still make money, but there is nothing wrong with them. They are lume filled and polished on the outside. They gleam in sunlight.
First the date function is at 4 O’clock. Do you see it there? Yeah, it’s pretty easy to miss, and nearly impossible to read. Now I’m not 20 years old anymore, and my eyes aren’t what they used to be, but with my glasses I have 20/20 vision, and I still cannot read the date function.
Make it bigger or leave it off. Either one would have been fine.
This dials in the center are obviously not for a chronograph. They are day, month and hour, and you can set them. They do work as intended.
If you look on Aliexpress you will see there are several colors of the same style of watch to choose from.
Hands
The hands on this model are nothing special, easy to read, nothing fancy.
Nothing to complain about.
Lume:
I’ve said this before, but one of the first places watchmakers look to cut money is in luminous paint applied to the markers and hands.
Well, this is where Loreo probably saved some money, because the lume on this watch is pretty pitiful. There just isn’t much there.
If you plan on buying this watch to go night diving or you want to read the time in dark situations, this is not the watch for you.
Movement
The Loreo from what I can tell has a Seagull movement. Seagull makes popular movements for discounted watches. I have heard that they make a quarter of the automatic movements produced every year, but I cannot verify this.
Either way, it works well. The Loreo didn’t gain or lose time to any noticeable degree from what I could tell.
I was really surprised that it contained both hacking and hand winding features. This was a really nice surprise.
Wrist Presence
This watch is weightier than I would have thought. I like a heavier watch, and you know this one is on your wrist. If your wrist is over 7.5 or 8 inches I think this is definitely too small for you. The bracelet or strap on other models is only 20mm and tapers down toward the clasp.
I think if you have a slimmer wrist this might be a good one for you. I think you could just squeeze it under a shirt sleeve in a dress shirt.
I personally like the height of 13.7mm, the normal Submariner homage does not have the exhibition case back and is a little slimmer.
Pros:
Sapphire crystal
Automatic movement with hacking and hand winding
Cons:
Lume is nearly non-existent on the Loreo
Final Thoughts
As far as money for value, this is a nice watch. The fact that it contains both an automatic movement and a sapphire crystal at under $100 is a great value.
I paid about $85 for mine from Aliexpress. If you’ve never purchased anything from Aliexpress, it’s kind of like Amazon China. It takes a while to get to the US, Europe or Australia, but it’s pretty cheap.
Don’t expect great customer service either, or at least that has been my experience.
If you aren’t looking for a brand name watch and want an automatic that has 200M water resistance with a sapphire crystal, this could be the one for you.
I’m not sure how good the quality control is for these watches, I think there could be the possibility you get a lemon, but that was not my experience.
This one happens to be an homage cross between a Rolex Daytona and a Yachtmaster in my opinion, but Loreo makes a ton of colors and styles of this model. They are all great value for money and all contain an automatic movement and sapphire crystal. There are tons of options to choose from.
There are probably a dozen or more models to choose from, some like the one I ordered, and many straight Submariner homage variants. There might be two dozen models all said and done.
I purchased this one as mentioned earlier for my sub $100 watch shootout, and some of those watches I am keeping, but this one I am going to let go unless my wife wants to keep it. It is just a little too small for what I like in a dive watch. If it was 42mm I would strongly consider keeping it.
Now a lot of people are interested in the Rolex Submariner homage seen below, which is also a nice watch. It has all of the same features as the one I reviewed, but the dial and bezel are, well pretty much a copy of the Rolex. Still a great deal for a good dive watch. The only thing the Submariner homage doesn’t include is the see through case back.
