Why we choose to fit the Ronda movement at the heart of our Tidal Moonphase watch

With hundreds, if not thousands of movements available in the watch market, it can be a bit daunting where to start. Our team has a background in horology, making the processes a lot easier, yet regardless of this the challenge to find the best suit movement for our Tidal Moonphase was still a challenge. Watch movements have a lot of factors to consider - accuracy deviation, power reserve, size dimensions, power source, complications offered, how user-friendly the movement might be for repairs and maintenance and more.

Considering that a timepiece’s primary objective is to display the time, the accuracy of the time it provides is at the upmost importance. After meticulous testing, the Swiss movement we have chosen was found to deviate a mere -10/+20 seconds per month. Meaning after a year it could be 2 minutes behind or 4 minutes ahead of time. Not to compare apples to oranges, but the caliber 3235, by Rolex, which is considered the gold standard of watches deviates at -60/+60 seconds a month.

Our Ronda movement offers an impressive power reserve of 5 years, with the added function of being able to save up to 70% of the energy required to power the timepiece by pulling the crown out 1 position. Executing its ‘hacking function’, which is when the movement disengages the second hand from moving. An extended life period of the battery also reduces the risk of damage incurred to the caseback or movement when replaced without care or by an inexperienced jeweller.

The rule of thumb with regards to the size of a movement - more complications (features) a watch offers, the larger the movement. The Tidal Moonphase was designed to be unisex, at just 39mm in diameter and 9.15mm the Ronda Cal. 708 was able to provide the complicated feature of a 29.5 day counter to track a mooncycle while still offering hours, minutes, seconds, and a date display. Fitting perfectly into our polished 316L marine grade stainless steel case.

The Ronda Cal. 708 is classified as a quartz movement, meaning it is powered by a battery in comparison to an automatic which is powered by the movement of the wearer’s wrist. We designed our Tidal Moonphase to be the ultimate start to a watch collection. A quartz movement is ideal for this objective as it does not require periodical servicing which can be a costly procedure depending on the amount of usage over each three year period, which is the advised time between each service. Automatic watches are also extremely sensitive to bumps and drops, which could throw off their sensitive inner workings. To iterate how sensitive an automatic watch can be to shock, most golfers don’t wear their automatics while golfing due to the shock that travels through the club to the wrist when striking the ball.

A beautiful aspect of watch making is that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ model when it comes to picking the right movement for a timepiece. Each movement has its benefits, wether it be the accuracy, price, reliability, robustness, size, the complications featured and more. The Swiss Ronda is a great movement for both first time users who are new to the horology community and true watch geeks that understand the inner workings of this spectacular caliber.