and you certaintly get what you pay for, DS3231s fry almost as easily as MAX3232s,
(And you can do the same thing were you write the time to the RTC before you have the correct time)
(And you can do the same thing were you write the time to the RTC before you have the correct time)
We found they drift less than 28s a year in standalone mode. Also, were repeatable within +-18ms when using a NTP client.
Microchip RTCs are harder to setup, but also seem to work just as well (ignoring the goofy epoch).
Chip shortage caused people to do unspeakable things.... ;-)
Are you sure you connected it correctly?