NWA! Circula ProTrail and small Pforzheim trip report
Hello community!
After living in Frankfurt am Main for 2+ years and travelling a lot to Warsaw, Poland where my fianceé lives, I am relocating back to Poland. What a good excuse to buy a German watch as a farewell and reminder of everything beautiful that happened to me here!
Circula ProTrail was my target for almost a year following an intro post from brand owner Cornelius here on WC. I could have ordered online, but decided to travel 2.5 hours to Pforzheim and buy at an AD. They had full ProTrail collection on display (6 colour options) and I opted for sand version on sailcloth strap which grabbed my attention a year ago. Once it got on my wrist - fit was perfect and I went directly to card terminal for payment without additional questions. Hard to describe how happy I am with the purchase! Attaching some photos from today's frosty forest walk.
After leaving AD it was time to explore Pforzheim. I will not try to write a good introduction to Pforzheim because @Uhrologe already did.
I will just contribute with experience from Jewellery museum (Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim im Reuchlinhaus) - mostly focused on antique and modern jewellery with quite vast collection to see. It was informative as well with good description and examples of jewellery techniques, manufacturing process, etc. Watch wise and to my delight they had quite substantial pocket watch collection from times when watches were used for their purpose ;) mostly long gone brands, but there were pieces from Bovet, Breguet and Jules Jürgensen for example
Below is Jules Jürgensen
Quarter repeater with automata figures
And also below peculiar pocket watches
Probably most impressive piece was Wilhelm Rieber Tourbillons. From initial reading, Wilhelm is a German master watchmaker producing one or few handmade pieces a year with focus on tourbillons. Finishing is just mind blowing in person.
There is also technical museum (Technisches Museum der Pforzheimer Schmuck- und Uhrenindustrie) with exhibitions on watch and jewellery manufacturing process - but tbh I was a bit in a rush so just quickly went through exhibition. Amount of machinery is astonishing and most of it is operable. I guess there're experienced employees from industry in the museum who show machines on request, just I did not have time to ask for it :(
I will aim to write more detailed review of ProTrail after giving it a bit of wrist time
Have a good Sunday everyone!
Hello! I am relatively new to hobby and have only few timepieces for now. Collecting direction for me is known - I plan to focus on German brands since this country is dear to my heart. Hopefully in f...
Thanks for drawing my attention to this brand, have not heard of before, will look into their collection.
Thx for the write-up! And congrats on the watch 🔥
Thank you, I looked at that very Circula online a few weeks ago. I mean, what a nice case, paired with a very simple and almost calming dial. Enjoy your watch! Pforzheim is great in that regard, and not only for Laco anymore. 😉
Even case manufacturers like Ickler come to mind. I very much hope you enjoyed your trip.
Congratulations! Very cool piece!
Thanks for drawing my attention to this brand, have not heard of before, will look into their collection.
From my perspective Circula offers fresh designs and colours with good value for money in terms of spec. You should definitely check it out :)
Thank you, I looked at that very Circula online a few weeks ago. I mean, what a nice case, paired with a very simple and almost calming dial. Enjoy your watch! Pforzheim is great in that regard, and not only for Laco anymore. 😉
Even case manufacturers like Ickler come to mind. I very much hope you enjoyed your trip.
I mostly got hooked because of dial. I wanted to add a field watch to my humble collection, but popular field watches (e.g. Khaki) seemed too plain and boring to me. ProTrail nicely blends design and functionality on the dial imo - very legible, but more detailed and colourful.
Back when I first saw ProTrail - it was available in three colours only and sand was obvious choice. But now they have green, grey and umber which are all very nice. Plenty to select from :)