The Sternglas Zirkel Edition Bauhaus
Last year saw the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus movement. Many watch brands also celebrated with the release of a special Bauhaus edition watch. But there are brands that celebrate Bauhaus design every day. One of those brands is the Hamburg based brand Sternglas. They just released their Sternglas Zirkel Edition Bauhaus as a special celebration piece showing the symmetry that makes Bauhaus design so effective and playful at the same time.
Although still a young brand, naming Sternglas a new brand is not really fair at this point. If you are present in the online world of watches, chances are you have seen its many ads on websites and social media. The brand’s online presence has delivered Sternglas a lot of fans that are attracted to its watches. And now the brand has taken another step in marketing to engage to its fans.
The newest addition to the Sternglas line-up is the Zirkel Edition Bauhaus. The watch celebrates the Bauhaus school’s continued influence on design. And to make it even more special, the brand asked 1,500 fans to help them co-create the watch. The result uses the minimalistic Bauhaus design principles to create a new watch that could be described as playful and a break from the norm.
The idea
As mentioned, for the creation of the all-new Zirkel Edition Bauhaus, Sternglas asked its loyal community to participate in creating the design. While the word “creating” might have you thinking that people picked up pencils and started drawing, that’s not the case.
Sternglas designed five different watches and people were able to react to those and state their preferences. This has lead to the realization of the Zirkel Edition Bauhaus available as a limited edition of 250 pieces.
While not seen often in the traditional watch industry, co-creation is a much-used tool to engage commercial audiences. The luxury world tends to have its own rules. It is very much a “top-down” hierarchy and it is rare for customer (or potential customer) feedback to be integrated into an actual design. Many of the traditional Swiss brands portray an image of exclusivity that keeps a deliberate distance between those who supply and those who demand.
Sternglas actually makes people an active part of the brand.
For Sternglas the rules are different. From the get-go, its mission statement was clear. Sternglas aims to create watches that stand out for their design while remaining affordable. Sternglas actually makes people part of the brand and has created a participatory community built around this concept. As a result, a lot of the people involved feel a more personal connection to the brand and, specifically, the Zirkel Edition Bauhaus.
The design
After Sternglas gave people the chance to react to the designs, the team gathered all the feedback to come up with the final design. The Zirkel Edition Bauhaus does feel very much like a Sterglas watch but it has quite a few elements that make it stand out. To begin with, the 40mm stainless steel case is DLC coated and has a brushed finish.
Although not a first for Sternglas, it does give the characteristic round-shaped case a completely different look and feel. The watch is delivered on a black leather strap with black lining for a stealthy look.
Set against the white color of the dial the playful hour markers stand out immediately.
The most prominent element that stands out is the dial design. Although very much in line with the symmetric Bauhaus approach to design, the hour markers are playful and different. The markers are a mixture of black applied circles, squares, and triangles. Set against the white color of the dial they stand out immediately.
The use of geometric shapes and the fact that they are applied gives the dial a nice character and depth. Looking at the design of the dial I couldn’t help but think of the iconic buttons of Playstation controllers. And not in a bad way.
The movement
The Zirkel Edition Bauhaus is powered by the automatic Miyota caliber 9015. It’s the same movement that is used for the regular Zirkel but a step up compared to the Miyota 821A that is used in the Naos Automatik I reviewed here. The movement has a power reserve of 42 hours and ticks at 28,800vph. The movement is visible through the sapphire crystal cashback and features a custom Sternglas branded rotor. To learn more about the brand and its principles, visit the official website here.
The Miyota caliber 9015 is known as a reliable movement that is part of Miyota’s Premium Automatic series. The movement can also be hand-wound and has a date indication at the 3 o’clock position with a quick date setting.
Set against the DLC coated case the reliable movement really pops out. While looking at the back of the watch you will also find the limited edition numbering on the back of the black case.
First Thoughts
I like the fact that this watch has been co-created with Sternglas fans. It allows the brand to experiment and find out where the design can go in the future. As a result, this new Sternglas Zirkel Edition Bauhaus does stand out from the other watches in the collection because of its playful dial design and black stealthy look. Although small in size, the geometric shapes really pop because of the color contrast. They are the elements that give the watch its character.
I have no doubts that fans of the brand will jump on this limited edition release quickly. The 250 pieces are available now for €529 each and totally live up to the brand’s mission of creating good design, accessible to everyone. The fact that you can be part of creating the design, makes it even more special. You can find out more on the official Sternglas website here.
