Going Mechanical
Known for a wide catalog of
quartz movements, Ronda AG
jumps (back) into mechanical.
O
ne can only assume that the Swatch Group’s
strategy to severely curtail (and even stop) supplying movements and components to companies
outside its own group has worked. While most members of
the watch press & industry saw the move as a power grab
to corner the market, the late Nick Hayek Sr. is on record
claiming that the motivation was to force outside brands to
become more ‘creative’ – or at least autonomous. Whether
you accept this premise of ‘stimulating the competition’ or
not, the net effect has (to some extent) met Mr. Hayek’s
proposed motivations.
Soprod, Selitta, Eterna and a handful of other Swiss manufacturers as well as a few stronger independent brands have
taken up the challenge to fill the looming void. We can now add
another major player to this list: Ronda.
Returning to manufacturing mechanical movements after
a hiatus of more than 25-plus years, Ronda is positioning its
new mechanical Calibre 150 to fill a price gap under the ETA
28 series, which can range from around $100-$300 depending on decoration, regulation, origin, and other variables.
It’s also positioned over the Miyota 9000 series that can be
purchased in the $50 range.
Officially introduced in March at the 2016 Baselworld fair
with an expected commercial delivery date at the end of 2017,
Ronda is targeting a retail price of right around $70 for a base
model. I’ve little doubt that Ronda, like ETA, will offer various
levels of finishing and regulation at different prices.
The Calibre 150 is a 3-hand with date movement that will
qualify as Swiss Made even though the company was remarkably transparent about the fact that some components are
manufactured in Thailand. Ronda does stipulate that it will
continue to qualify for the Swiss Made label even as the rules
evolve to integrate more ‘Swissness’ into all Swiss Made products using the trademark.
Strictly speaking the new caliber is pretty standard fare.
It’s an 11 ½ lignes (26mm) diameter x 4.4mm automatic
winding, 25-jewel movement with a 40-hour power reserve. Its
escapement is a standard Swiss lever style beating at 28,800
bph. Shock resistance is via the standard Incabloc system
and both the mainspring and hair spring are made of modern
anti-magnetic and thermo compensated alloys. Accuracy is
estimated at 20-30 seconds per day out of the box, but the
Cal 150 is fitted with an index regulating system and with a
little time on the Witschi, I’m sure a qualified watchmaker could
fine-tune (regulate) the Cal 150 to achieve even better performance. Whether or not the new Cal 150 could be massaged
to COSC-level certification remains to be seen.
Based on the projected price you can probably expect
to see these movements in watches ranging from as little as
$500 up to as much as $2,000 depending on the total package of components.
Knowing that Ronda owns 30% of the American-based
Shinola brand, I would not be in the slightest bit surprised to
see this movement make an appearance in one of Shinola’s
new releases.
AboutTime Magazine | 9