[bluloo]

If you go with automatics, they seem to be moving to the NH35 (Seiko/TMI) movements quite a lot, in their less-inexpensive autos They also use ETA/Sellita in higher priced pieces. The Seiko/TMI auto-chronos are also quite good.

Many of their quartz pieces use inexpensive, and often Asian-made Swiss parts movements, which are not as accurate or high quality as their Swiss Made counterparts.

Anyhow, if you feel that you must buy one of their watches, make sure it's at a steep discount off the regular selling price (not the MSRP) and know what you are (and aren't) buying.
As far as the most popular movements they use, the vast majority of autos seem to be pretty good.

 

[bluloo]

It's easy to assume this, but how do you know it?

You can check out the manufacturer's spec/tech sheets. At least on the one's I've checked, the Swiss Made movements had tighter specs than their Asian counterparts.

Edit: Browsing a few movements on Ronda's site, they don't list separate performance specs for the Swiss parts vs Swiss Made. They only list jewel and plating differences between the two. Now this is going to gnaw at me until I remember the movements I checked...

 

[bluloo]

Thanks for providing some background to your statement. I just got an Invicta quartz with the Ronda "Swiss Parts" and I wasn't quite sure what it meant. From what you're saying Ronda provides specs both for their Swiss made movement AND specs for the Swiss (Ronda) parts movements that are assembled in Asia. Does this mean that Ronda oversees/controls the Asian manufacturing/assembly of their movements? I'm assuming that must be the case or how otherwise would they have specs for those models to compare them with their Swiss sourced and assembled movements. I guess it does make sense that the Asian parts models could use non-Ronda parts that are made with looser tolerances.

For some reason I assumed that Swiss parts movement meant simply the movement was assembled in Asia.

Ronda doesn't (currently?) list the specs differently for each location of manufacture. They list only one set of performance specs, regardless.
I don't know if Ronda oversees Asian manufacturing. I'd assume they at least audit the process from time to time. They definitely have to QC batch samples, probably locally and in Switzerland.

From what I can currently find, the only differences I see listed are the number of jewels (higher jewel count on the Swiss) and plating (gold on the Swiss vs nickel on the Asian) used. For some movements, they are the same.

They certainly wouldn't disclose the quantity of Swiss vs Asian components in either. Where the jewel count differs for the same movement caliber, I wouldn't think that the parts breakdown between the Swiss vs Asian production could be identical. Not sure what difference that otherwise makes, except, perhaps, longevity.

I also checked a few movements for ISA and ETA, and didn't see differences listed. I wish I could recall where I read the differences. It's probably best to take it with a grain of salt.
Maybe one of our resident watchmakers will chime in.

Edit: I found an 2009 post by lysanderxiii, on tz-uk.com here: http://www.tz-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=68258&p=785204#p711369

Here's the relevant quote:

Also, all of ETA's quartz movements were available in Swiss made and non-Swiss made.
955.xx2 or .xx1 are the Swiss ones
955.xx4 are the non-Swiss ones, these have slightly looser accuracy requirements, the Swiss are -0.3 to +0.5 s/d; the non-Swiss are -0.4 to +0.6 s/d.

It looks like ETA uses/used different calibers to denote their Swiss vs. Asian manufactures.
Don't know if it's accurate, but at least I know I wasn't imagining it. ;-)

 

[bluloo]

I dont know that you are wrong about the dial labeling and designation. But, the fact that Invicta was using "swiss" on the dial at the 6 and including a chinese made movement in those pieces was at the least misleading. Eyal Lalo, the CEO, did chime in and more or less apologize.

I am not going to get on a soap box over a $100 watch with questionable labeling on the dial. I am happy with their overall performance as a watch group.

They did this on their premium "Reserve" line as well.

That's one of many public SNAFUs they've had to dance around. Many see that pattern as unethical and not deserving of their hard-earned dollars. Spending $300-$400 on a watch is a significant sum, for many people.

Fortunately, for consumers, it's good thing their lines are primarily less expensive pieces (and repeated behavior like this is one of the reasons they will likely remain so).

For many, it doesn't inspire confidence in a company, esp. given the myriad alternatives from which to choose.

Not trying to start a flame-fest, just trying to keep the discussion balanced, esp. for the benefit of newer members.