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On The Desk: Circula SuperSport

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On The Desk: Circula SuperSport

Post by MoT »

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Recently, a dive watch from Pforzheim, Germany came across my desk; Circula SuperSport.

Founded in 1955 by Heinz Huber of watch and jewelry wholesaler Huber & Co., Circula (named after the circular motion of the balance wheel) produced a wide range of watches sold in specialist watch shops throughout Germany. As the quartz crisis of the 1970s decimated the mechanical watch industry, Circula was relegated to the back of the company portfolio.

In 2017, Cornelius Huber, grandson of Heinz Huber was determined to revive the brand, and that ambition has brought some interesting releases, including the SuperSport you see here.

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SuperSport is a Sellita SW200-1 automatic diver watch with a compressor case. Real compressors, such as SuperSport harken from the early days of making watches water-resistant by employing the physical properties of water itself. To put it simply, compressor watches are constructed so that when water pressure increases (as you go deeper and deeper), it literally squeezes the watch tighter with the effect of increasing sealing. It was an ingenious and very effective method. In SuperSport this allows for 300m of water resistance.

SuperSport was jointly developed with over 4,500 votes from the global watch community, and this Limited Edition (to 99 pieces) grey model shows off the compressor traits very nicely. The 40mm case has a 46.5mm lug-to-lug measurement and is 13.3mm thick, including the ever-so-slightly curved, double anti-reflective underside coated crystal, and there is a helmeted diver embossed on the screw-down case back.

The dual crowns are shaped well, with the time-setting screw-down crown (4:00 position) also inset with a band color-coded to the inner timing bezel. The Swiss Super-LumiNova C3 X1 lumed balance wheel engraving on the face of the time-setting crown was a nice surprise as well. It and the color-coded band are a nice bit of attention to detail.

The cross-hatch engraved crown at 2:00 controls the inner bezel, which is 120-click uni-directional. I found that while operating the bezel crown was trouble-free, I did find it to be rather odd. Personally, I would prefer if it was a bi-directional friction bezel as found on many other compressor and compressor-style watches.

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The dial of SuperSport is clean, legible, and well thought out. As I've said in another review, I love sandwiches, and a sandwich dial even more. Circula has filled the submerged indices as well as the just-right length hands with copious amounts of green glowing Swiss Super-LumiNova C3 X1. Combined with the generously lumed inner bezel, the combination makes for a delightful, and useful view in the dark, one that lasted all night long.

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Though SuperSport is available with a rubber tropic-style strap, the model I was sent was on the superb stainless steel bracelet. It is quite comfortable, 20mm in width, and solidly constructed with screw links. It's attached to the watch via quick-release spring bars, a nice touch. I wish all bracelet watches came this way; it makes strap changes so simple and easy. The clasp is milled and has six micro-adjustments, definitely an improvement on so many others that only have three.

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In summation, Circula SuperSport is a comfortable, well-designed diver watch that at 671.43€ (~$725) on bracelet or 587.39€ (~$633) on a rubber strap strikes me as quite a good value given the construction quality and attention to detail by an offering from a small, independent watch manufacturer.

Thank you Cornelius Huber and Circula Watches for letting me have a look at SuperSport, and thank you to all readers.

To learn more about SuperSport, Circula and Circula's other watches, click here: https://circulawatches.com/en/
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Re: On The Desk: Circula SuperSport

Post by MoT »

Note: The watch sent to me is a prototype model, and has all the "well-loved" marks and dings a review tour watch generally collects. I feel these help to give a real-world used and loved feel for the watch and aren't indicative of what the customer will receive.
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