Why do I do this to myself? Invicter and Slop with never change - it's the same old over-promise, under-deliver that's led them to fame and fortune. Well, fortune maybe, as much of their popularity stems from people who drag out their precious heirlooms in yellow dive carts while checking in on cruises that allow them the "privilege" of meeting home shopping network shills.

So tonight I'm flippin' channels and there's Invicta Lyin' hoisting up a "high end Swiss" R-150 auto movement in a "Reserve" Pro Diver they're asking 900 bucks for (hoo, boy). The usual bells and whistles: Tungsten (no one will ever beat the Merm braying "Tungsten does not scwaaatch!!!" as a classic TV huckster come-on), probably a dive case but I didn't hang out long enough to check - wow. Same ol' song and dance, but these days, it's like watching Paula Abdul in the pain reliever commercial - they're never smart enough to let up.

So...it's a Swiss-made auto in a watch that the Slop website claims is from China? Turns out the R-150 is the auto movement that Ronda announced way back in 2016. It's pretty much a less expensive 2824 clone, as I recall.

My question: Has anyone ever seen this movement in any other watch, or did I just miss it. Is this another case of some unsold movements being hawked to the lowest bidder once again?

"High end," sang Invicta Ryan, whose last name, fittingly, is Johnson.

I love the idea of Tungsten for watches but it is HEAVY. And if the Invicta is their usual 60mm monstrosity, that sucker would be shoulder dislocation in the making.

biglove wrote: ↑

Mon May 10, 2021 5:26 pm

I love the idea of Tungsten for watches but it is HEAVY. And if the Invicta is their usual 60mm monstrosity, that sucker would be shoulder dislocation in the making.

It's "only" 47mm. You know, unisex.

https://wornandwound.com/ronda-r150-the ... orld-2016/

Going over the build specs it’s a hundred times better than an stp movement. Is it the better than even an SW movement hell no but I haven’t had one in my my hands to tear down yet.

I remember that article^^^

Odd that we haven’t been encountering these movements in the wild after five years. At least until now.

biglove wrote: ↑

Mon May 10, 2021 7:14 pm

I remember that article^^^

Odd that we haven’t been encountering these movements in the wild after five years. At least until now.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Back in '16, from what I read the movement was issued to fill the gap that the Swatch Group created when they made a big deal about not selling auto movements to other companies - then, of course, Swatch turned on a dime. I can only guess that interest in the Ronda movement never really took shape.