Ronda Caliber 519S

The Ronda caliber 519S is a 1 jewel Swiss quartz movement with a double digit big date complication. This movement is part of the Powertech 500 family of movements and is based on the Ronda caliber 519.

519 VS 519S:

As of this post, the caliber 519S does not appear to be part of Ronda’s catalog of watch movements. The 519S information that Ronda provides is incomplete. As far as we can tell, the difference between the 519 and 519S is that the 519 is available as Swiss made or Swiss parts and the S on the 519S is Swiss made. We are still working on finding a definitive answer to this and will update this post accordingly.

With that said, the tech sheets also reveal that there are a few parts which are difference between the 519 and 519S. For example:

UPDATE: Although Ronda does not provide concise information on the 519S, nor the differences between the 519 and 519S, we were able to learn more from examining the Ronda caliber 515 vs 515S tech sheets, possibly lending a hand to help figure out the differences between 519/519S.

So the 515 is quoted as having a 45 months battery life, whereas the 515S is said to have 24 months battery life with a “fix motor pulse”. This is in line with the part differences listed above, since the module and coil would likely have control over the fixed motor pulse. Also, the current consumption jumps from 1.28 uA – 1.85 uA on the 515 to 2.4 uA – 2.65 uA on the 515S.

From this information, it appears that the 519S will provide approximately half the battery life of the 519. Please comment below with your experience.

Features:

• Repairable metal watch movement
• Power saving mechanism with pulled out stem: Reduction of consumption approximately 70%
• Interchangeability: All versions 11½”’ with same movement height 3.00 mm and stem height 1.50 mm
• Very powerful stepping motor

Big Date Functionality:

An interesting thing about the Big Date complication in this Ronda caliber 519S is that the date does not flip to 01 after day 31. It keeps going to 39, then flips to 00, then to 01. This will require you to set the date every month, and not just on 31 day months.

Accuracy Rating:

According to Ronda, the claimed accuracy of the caliber 519S is -10/+20 seconds per month in normal operating temperatures of 0-50 degrees C.

Replacement Prices:

At the time of this post, we could not locate any 519S replacement movements. This could be because the movement is either no longer available, or it is only available as a special order for brands like Mondaine. Luckily if you need to replace your movement, you should be able to use the Ronda 519 (not guaranteed) and prices for the that caliber were found online from $11.95 to $19.95 USD.

Additional Resources:

• Ronda 519S official page
• Ronda official tech sheets