Hands-On Review of the Circula ProTrail

Circula is a German watch brand that has really been circulating heavily in enthusiast circles lately. The company started in the 20’s out of Pforzheim, Germany as a jewelry wholesaler, and quickly pivoted to affordable, useful tool watches. In 2018, Corneulius Huber (grandson of the founder) took over Circula, and their designs have seen some modernization and creative influence come to the forefront of the brand’s identity. Circula has also done a fantastic job of keeping so much of DNA of their original designs, which is part of why we’re fans of the brand. Today, we’re hands-on with one of their newer releases, the ProTrail ‘Sand, a unique field watch with some cool design elements at an affordable price point that was mostly picked by “committee” - That is the watch community got to vote on a lot of the design elements during the creation phase. So let’s get into it.

The angular Stainless Steel case measures in at a very wearable 40mm x 13.3mm. But because of the way the case and crystal are designed, it feels thinner than the height would suggest. In fact, the actual case itself is right around 12mm thick - That being said, for a field watch, it’s kind of a thick boy, but it doesn’t feel that way. I actually found myself loving the little extra wrist-presence that lends way to the great case finishing.

The case is well-finished with alternating sandblasted and polished bevel finishings, but one of the coolest elements of the watch is the cut-outs on the side of the case. Inside is a third finishing that looks almost rough-grained, giving the case a more rugged overall aesthetic. Further, the case is finished in something called Kolsterizing® - Where the case is heated with a carbon treatment, making the watch much harder and more scratch resistant than traditional stainless steel. Inside the case is a soft iron insert that makes the watch antimagnetic to around 1,000 Gauss. Hence “Antimagnetique” on the dial - An actual feat considering the price point.

The dial is simple, as is most field watch dials, but with a really cool color pallet that I found quite charming. The “Sand” model (featured here) comes in a nice shade of tan with black and blue indices. Like a regular field watch, it features a 12-hour black printed chapter ring, with a blue inner-24 hour ring. Often, with sand color watches, the indices can get lost in the colorway, but that’s not the case here. The ProTrail is incredibly legible, as a field watch should be and that’s a breathe of fresh air with so many recent field releases stuggling in that area.

One thing I want to touch on that gives this watch a lot more character is the lume. Instead of just traditionally lumed indices, Circula has opted to give the outer entire dial the BGW9 lume treatment with varying intensities on the different dial elements. This makes the darker indices pop in the negative space, and I found it really easy to read in the dark. It was a unique feature that really helped the watch stand out amongst its competition, and I appreciated the risk taken with full dial lume.

Inside the ProTrail is a Sellita SW200-1 - A fairly standard industry regular, but for good reason. The Swiss made Automatic movement beats at 28, 800 VpH with 26 jewels. It’s accurate, easy to use, and features a power reserve of 41 hours. So, all things considered, it’s not a bad gig in a more affordable watch like the ProTrail.

Finally, to tie the whole thing together, the Circula ProTrail comes fitted with a tan fabric strap. I found it fitting, simple, and it was superbly comfortable.

Overall, the Circula ProTrail was an overall success. The approach to crowd-sourcing design language and allowing the community to decide on what kind of aesthetics get presented from the brand is a really cool idea. It’s a similar approach to the market as Code41, though in a much more accessible price point. The ProTrail is a useful tool watch with great design, well above-board attention to detail, that can take a beating if necessary, and still fits just about any casual occasion. I couldn’t find anything Circula could have done better. Price for the Circular ProTrail is $825 USD.

You can read more about the Circula ProTrail on their website.