Hello, I have just had my second watch with a Ronda 5050.B movement fail.

Both have had the same fault which i suspect lies in the gearing of the big date movement. Basically the date gets stuck and trying to advance it by turning the crown in position one leads to a 'clicking' noise and no movement of the numbers. Also before it failed the date advance became harder i.e. I was getting more resistance on turning the crown. The watch was also randomly losing 10 seconds so it's back to the SMW repair shop for this one.

Shame really because it a nice stainlees steel chrono with H3 Lume that is really bright.

Luclkily it is still under gauarantee and the first one i got a dealer refund on, so i'm just giving people a heads up if they are thinking of buying one of these - hope you get lucky

Hi Tom,

Were they both the same brand?

Owen...

The first watch was a Traser Titanium chrono, the second (one i'm stuck with now) is a Swiss Military Watch chrono diver. Whether it is the actual watch given to the Swiss military I am not so sure.

One thing I do know is I won't knowingly buy any more watches with Ronda movements.

Hi Tom    This calibre is used in a lot of the military style watches and are usually solid and reliable. However, i have worked on a couple that have had date jumper problems and to this day dont know what caused the problem! I stripped the movement and re-lubed it ( date jumper assembly) and it worked ok afterwards. Have a look at the tech sheets for your calibre here  Ronda Technical

               All the best     Terry

Tracer watches are a nightmare to work on.... They modify the Ronda to accommodate the large glow in the dark hands that are back filed to around 3 or 4 mm...

If you try to use a standard Ronda then you are forever adjusting the hands because they are almost correct and it leaves you to beleive its your adjustment rather that the modification that is at fault

Owen...

Thanks for the replies.

I'll try and get a warranty repair which is a nuisance as it will have to go back to switzerland and may have to deal with customs duty claims on re entry

If it comes back fixed i'm going to get rid of it a bit lively before it breaks again

Well I thought i'd update the story though not much to say. I sent it away for repair via the ebay seller who was very helpful and have had it returned today. The date is set on 11 and i havent cycled through the dates so I am hoping all is ok.

I think I may keep it afterall as it has great H3 lume and a nice all solid bracelet.

Hi Tom,

It does look nice..... Could end up being a better resut than expected if all goes to plan!

Owen...

Hi Owen

So far so good The date is changing nicely with a very audible click no later than 10 minutes past 12. The date change time was less precise before, maybe Ronda released an improved version of this movement after other failures ...?

It's running +0.4 sec per day which is not great for quartz, in fact the cheapest analogue quartz I own keeps the most accurate time