A circular cutting unit for partially cutting one or more layers of a cable or wire along a cutting plane. The circular cutting unit include a knife head including a drive disc and an adjustment disc that are each rotatable about a disc axis. A pair of knife holders that each include a knife blade are pivotally mounted to the drive disc. Relative rotation of the adjustment disc relative to the drive disc causes the knife holders to pivot causing movement of the knife blades toward or away from each other. The circular cutting unit includes a primary drive assembly and an adjustment drive assembly that are each separately operable. The primary drive assembly rotates the knife head at the cutting speed and the adjustment drive assembly rotates the adjustment disc relative to the drive disc.