CIRCULR offers watches ‘Without the Bulls***’

A NEW fashion brand aims to make “Watches without the Bulls**t” by offering products free of unnecessary add-ons.

CIRCULR watches was developed by Urmston-born Danny Buck, 30, who aims to cut out extra features and embrace the rapid-changing nature of fashion retail.

The direct-to-consumer (DTC) model means that the products are manufactured abroad and sent directly to online customers, enabling the company to further reduce the retail price.

“I feel it’s imperative that brands have a direct channel to engage with their audience, so there’s no middleman here”, said Buck, “We’ve cut them out too so that our customers can buy at the best price possible.

Despite retailing at only £49, the watches are made with rose gold, sterling silver-plated 42.33mm faces, hardened mineral glass, 3ATM water resistance and a genuine leather straps.

Each watch comes with a 12-month guarantee and the first 1,000 watches sold will be delivered for free.

Many watches on the market are considered luxury items, customers often face paying thousands, however, as Buck explains, many of the features are both unnecessary for everyday users and sometimes contradictory.

Buck said: “The watch industry… throw a lot of unnecessary things into the manufacturing process and it bumps up the price.

“An example of this is 5ATM, which means the watch can go underwater and is waterproof, but then they will put a genuine leather strap on it which isn’t waterproof.

“By increasing the cost of producing the watch-face and then that strap not being able to go underwater, they might as well as have made it splash proof.”

The venture is currently less than 25% away from its target of £25,000 on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.

So far, a corporate co-branded pledge of £5,000 from a “famous personality” has boosted the brand’s efforts significantly.

If the full amount is raised, Buck intends to create co-branded products with global brands, and also aims to launch a limited edition collection in the New Year.

He exclusively told The Business Desk: “We have three collections and we’re launching a range called SMARTR that’s designed as smarter watches than casual.

“SPECTACULR is limited edition and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

“REGULR and SMARTR will stay consistent and unique to us.”

Buck previously owned a marketing agency and grew the size of the company from four employees to 70.

Over the last four years, this business has increasingly focused on the fashion sector, which provided the inspiration for his own idea.

He said: “I spotted that nobody had brought a volume, fast-fashion approach to the watch industry.

“In March next year, we are going to open warehouses in New Zealand and America.

“We live in a digital world where brands talk directly to their customers so the only place you can purchase CIRCULR is from us.”

However, Buck’s entrepreneurial spirit was originally ignited at university when he bought and sold wallets over Ebay, getting his friends to do the deliveries for £1 per box.

“I made money which paid through university.

“We had this little business and we all used to make beer money from it.”

As a further method of cutting costs, the company’s four employees all work remotely, something that Buck is particularly passionate about.

“All the workers we have at the moment all work remotely.

“We have all the products designed in our base then we get the components from different locations.”

The brand’s Kickstarter campaign will end on Friday, November 4.