The Most Complete $1,000 Watch…On Paper (Circula Protrail)

Although I am a firm believer that a watch's specifications or features can only go so far, and that a purchase of a watch can be heavily weighted by an emotional connection, I will say though finding a watch that over delivers on the spec sheet can make a more compelling package overall. Now many of the watches that can deliver on value are usually very much out in the general discourse, but every once in a while there is a watch that is not likely appreciated as much as it should be by the collector community, and in most cases as a result of being from a smaller brand. And today we're going to be looking at a watch that qualifies for that assessment being from a German family-owned company known as the Circula ProTrail. This piece serves as a complete package for everyday wear on paper with solid wearability, water resistance rating to go along with it, a high grade caliber on the inside, magnetic resistance, scratch resistant case, all while sitting at around a thousand dollars. So Circula is a brand that has roots in Pforzheim in the Black Forest region of Germany as an important hub for watchmaking in totality for the country. It's now led by the third generation of the Huber family. Heinz Huber founded the company back in 1955 after working with his family's watch wholesale business Huber & Company which was established back in 1926. He took the name Circula as a nod to the circular balance wheel of mechanical movements, a tribute to his passion for the traditions of watchmaking. Circula produced a wide range of quality timepieces with an emphasis on mechanical tool watches including divers and chronographs. The quartz crisis took a toll on the company during the 1970s forcing it to pivot to the production of quartz watches in order to stay competitive. Heinz's son Klaus Dieter led the business from the mid-80s focusing on the wholesale side but the brand put a new emphasis on watchmaking when the third generation came into the fold. We had Heinz's grandson Cornelius who took the reins in 2019. Under his leadership Circula repositioned to get to more of that collector-minded customer base beginning with a kickstarter campaign that began with a course series inspired by historic 1950s designs. Circula then released the Aquasport their 1970s style dive watch and it's this model that brought the brand to a new audience remaining a stronger part of their lineup today. The Protrail though first released in 2022 is the brand's everyday style watch serving as a robust offering delivering on the concepts from German standouts like Zinn with case hardness treatments and magnetic resistance that are among the best in class. So my first time hearing about the Circula Protrail was shortly after its release. I've had some people in my circle that had one of these watches and I thought it was pretty interesting and then there was another day I was watches and wonders I can't remember what year it was but I was on a bus and when you're in Geneva you just basically use the public transport to get to the Expo and then there's other shows happening in the city at that time and I ran into Cornelius the grandson of the founder on a bus when I was at watches and wonders and it was a quick hello and goodbye and was able to see the watch that he had on his wrist if I remember correctly it was a Protrail and ever since that moment I've always just been following this brand from afar liking what they're doing it's pretty cool for what they have for the money and it never been a moment where I've actually looked at this piece more with a definitive highlight and spotlight on the channel but that ends here today because I have a couple different Protrails that we're going to be looking at including the very popular sand version or at least the best seller for the brand so it's clear when you first look at the Protrail that it is no traditional field watch the almost brutal angularity of the case has a profile that's thoroughly modern and rest assured its rugged appearance isn't just posturing as some tool watch wannabe more so the closer you look the more you recognize that this watch is more of a tool than even it lets on the sandblasted stainless steel case undergoes a proprietary low temperature hardening process which diffuses carbon into the surface lattice structure without creating unwanted chromium carbides preventing surface peeling while maintaining corrosion resistance the resulting surface boasts a hardness of 1200 on the Vickers scale bringing this to way more elevated levels than untreated stainless steel which has a typical hardness between 150 to 300 this is probably one of the more attainable watches that is getting this case treatment I think the most famous and just the price above this would be Zinn with their Tejamenta cases but 1200 Vickers at this price is pretty crazy and something you typically do not see and if you prefer a stealthier look Circula does offer a model with a black DLC coated case as well dimensions are easy wearing with a 40 millimeter diameter and a 12.5 millimeter case height and a buttoned up 46 millimeter lug to lug measurement that should give a variety of wrist sizes the ability to pull this one off the multi-angled surface gives off a sense of aggression with its matte finish offset by a touch of polish on the transitional facet side of the bezel one of the striking design cues comes from the inset section of the case size which features an almost pebbled texture offering a ton of visual interest while reinforcing the watch's tool-like attitude the dial is protected by a gently domed sapphire crystal offering a clear view thanks to double inner anti-reflective coating the sign screw down crown helps bring water resistance up to 150 meters an elevated spec for a field watch and the screwed in solid case back features a simple engraving of a topographic map now the case treatment was one of those hidden in the no features of this watch however there is another one that is not in plain sight but as you learn more can surprise you and the pro trail is going to also have a soft iron inner cage surrounding the movement which raises the magnetic resistance to 80 000 amperes per meter or 1000 gauss now the iso 764 standard for magnetism in watches only calls for 4800 amperes per meter so in other words the pro trail delivers a magnetic resistance standard 16 times that of iso now as far as the wear experience goes there are both strap and bracelet options for the pro trail the strap is made from a color match nylon canvas and has a reasonably comfortable leather lining on the underside the strap is going to get quick release spring bars and then also is going to have a sign stainless steel pin buckle with a match sandblasted finish which actually has the same scratch resistant properties as the case so no corners being cut there likewise the three link bracelet is going to feature the same hardened finish giving the watch a virtually everything proof build quality the links are also screwed in for added security the milled scissor interior of the clasp has a engine turn perlage look and the clasp features dual push buttons and tool-free micro adjustment as an added bonus if you specify a bracelet with your pro trail circular will throw in a strap as part of the package and if you do decide to experiment with other straps the 20 millimeter lug width is going to keep your options wide open moving to the face of the pro trail this is a dial that prioritizes legibility above all else several variants are available including gray a brown tone called umber a earthy green basic black and the most popular from my understanding is the sand colorway which has a couple aesthetic differences from the rest for the other colorways the format sticks to the same playbook at the outer edge you'll find a railway minute track that is going to come with small loom plots every five minutes just inside the track are large printed arabic numeral hour markers also featuring superluminova and set against a matte backdrop toward the center of the dial is an arabic 24-hour scale printed on the concentrically line background for some added visual interest dial text is minimal with the circular word mark below 12 and pro trail sitting atop anti-magnetic above six each colorway uses different accent colors for printed elements but they all complement their dial colors nicely the brush handset is appropriately wide with a profile that resembles a broad sword ensuring easy reading at a glance the silver tone hands are filled with the same swiss loom as the dial markings and the needle second hand is tipped in a coordinating color as for the previously mentioned sand colorway this is where we see some distinct differences in terms of the dial while the initial versions of the khaki colored dial featured the same inner dial as the rest of the colors newer versions get a grainy pressed texture that resembles you guessed it sand another difference is going to be that we have heat treated blue hands so they're going to be heated in order for an oxide layer to form on those hands which is beautiful to look at but also add some corrosion resilience to the hands as well dial text is done in black and blue that closely matches the hands bringing a cohesive look to the total package and the final difference is the implementation of loom while the hands are loomed normally the dial markings are not instead the outer dial is fully loomed a small design choice that offers maximum contrast in both day and night settings all right so just a quick update as we were editing this video there was some new relevant information about the movement aspect of this watch that i thought it was important to add to this video now although the models that we reviewed did not have this included it appears that circula has since replaced the sw 200-1 movement used in the pro trail with the new sw 200-2 caliber wrapped in the protection from magnets that was previously mentioned with that soft iron inner structure and the big news is that selita has upgraded the power reserve from 41 hours to 65 hours leveling the playing field with much of the competition and the pro trail will feature the labori grade sw 200-2b version which removes the date function so that there's no ghost position with the crown and then in addition the movement is gonna be fine adjusted in-house minus five to plus seven seconds per day and the brand says that the prices of the will be $1,090 on the strap with this new movement and $1,290 on the bracelet so around 100 more per version i think reasonable considering the movement upgrade the sw 200 has settled in as more of like a drop-in replacement for the eta 28 24-2 a supply of eda movements to brands outside of the swatch group's umbrella is pretty much eliminated completely nowadays now further this elaborate grade increases the movement finish and is going to have some better stated range of regulation out of the factory the rate of the caliber is 28 800 vibrations per hour or four hertz it does feature hacking and hand winding hacking stop in the seconds when you pull the crown to the farthest position it has 26 jewels one more than the eta 28 24 the sw 200 also features a niviflex alloy mainspring an inkabox shock protection system and a bi-directional winding rotary so now some closing thoughts here so despite a thousand dollars not being what it used to be years ago in watches and really just in life in general it's still a lot of money to spend on anything the good news is you are not faced with a shortage of options in today's watch market if your budget is a thousand dollars now many pieces from the likes of hamilton seiko tiso and a long list of other micro brands and others are going to be well documented by the community in this range now deciding on which is right for you as stated earlier is a decision based on logic as well as emotion and only if you can find a marriage between those two opposing perspectives will you come out with the right choice what consistently becomes the leading trade at this tier is this idea of value for money this unofficial class is often represented by the list of features on a spec sheet where a watch can deliver more than its peers what makes this pro trail an interesting talking point and lesson in collecting is that on paper this watch is maybe the most complete that you will come across for a thousand dollars let's just recall those specifications here 150 meters of water resistance a sapphire crystal with stellar ar coating upcase hardness treatment that will resist scratches multiples of the standard of stainless steel or titanium yet a soft iron cage with magnetic resistance to 1000 gauss stellar lume heat treated blue hands an elevated caliber grade regulated movement just outside of cosc standards a robust bracelet with that surface treatment again milled parts of the components in that bracelet and you get on the fly adjustment to go along with it you say all this out loud and hear the asking price around a thousand dollars on a strap and you think to yourself this would be the best selling watch of all time this is all the specs you could ever need and as much as i believe that this watch deserves more attention it serves as an important reminder to enthusiasts out there watches can wow us with features and we can often be very quick to make requests of brands to include new features and existing designs although if you look at your collection and ask the question why do i love this watch i would imagine your answer isn't the water resistance or notes on a spec sheet more so it's probably your interest in its design how do you identify with a piece and how it expresses you perhaps is the history of the model family or better yet your sentimental connection to the watch and trying to recap this circular something that was just brought up and i was thinking about is this is a great representation of this idea because on paper this is an unbelievable watch and it's a great watch at that and i think more people should start to look at this watch and consider it because i don't think it's from a brand that many people know about but it also serves as a great reminder that it's not about just specs on some type of spec sheet that is not why you ultimately buy a watch it should be an element of personal expression that happens here and that should never be a casualty in the pursuit of the best value for money and in the world of watch collecting if it just was all boiled down to that idea of specs on a sheet that would not be as fun as a collector and i would not want to be a part of that world of collecting so as great as this circular is i wanted this video to also serve as a reminder that there is just more to specs out there but alright guys that is my take looking at the circular pro trail on paper one of the most capable watches in its class at a thousand dollars maybe the most capable i mean you heard all those lists of specs it's crazy what they're able to pack into this watch and it gives pretty much everything else a run for its money at least in that regard but again there's more to watches than just that but guys if you enjoyed this video please give this one a thumbs up subscribe hit the bell icon really do appreciate that also if you do own this watch leave some comments down below i have talked about this watch before on the channel but this is probably the biggest spotlight that i did uh shine on this watch as in the past it was more just like listicle content uh so this is the first review i've ever had of this piece and you know i'm impressed of what they're really doing here also check out teddybalsa.com full authorized dealer for over 35 brands every purchase from our website comes with quick and fast fulfillment dedicated customer support and a full factory warranty for all the products that we offer in addition if you're ever in the cleveland ohio area and haven't checked out our new flagship store we'd love to welcome you in there and help you out with your next watch purchase very excited about that new store if you're not in the area looking to join us for an event be sure to sign up for our events on our website a lot of those are great to attend we have an upcoming grand seiko event as well so a lot of cool things coming up to get lost in so love to see you at future events in person be able to meet you guys that follow the channel here but guys thank you again so much for watching be well and i will see you all very soon