There are different kinds of watch brands. Some strive to make the best timepieces possible—the most expansive list of specs, the latest case material, the most mirror-like case polishing—and they are stuck into vicious circles which will inevitably either bring them to their own demise or make enthusiasts hate them. Because generally, these brands hire more people in order to grow and meet the increased demand for their product and at the best quality possible, and slowly forget their original raison d’être and what made them unique and worthy of our attention and dollars, in other words, what made them different. I for one believe that any enterprise, regardless of the industry, will eventually lose sight of what makes it great as soon as there is someone in there who thinks and says out loud “I want my/our brand to grow and get bigger and do bigger things.” That’s the beginning of the end. 

And then there are brands like Sabre. 

In my own multi-year experience in the watch world, first as an enthusiast (read: as someone who spent way too much time reading about watches,) and then as a watch journalist (but no less of an enthusiast,) I’ve come to prefer and have a passion for mom and pop brands which have small operations, think independently, and output small batches of watches annually. Of course, like everybody else, I want the watches I fancy to be available immediately and at any time, though by definition brands like Sabre don’t function this way. And that’s a good thing. Sabre, then, is a small UK-based operation that makes affordable and thoughtfully designed and packaged field watches. The DL9 is a little gem of military and utilitarian horology assembled and regulated in the North of England which will set you back the modest sum of $245 USD (early bird) or $284 USD full retail. 

Specifications 

The theme of this review will be that of straightforwardness in horology. The Sabre DL9 is a de facto straightforward timekeeping device which comes with, well yes, straightforward specifications. Though the shape of its case might indicate otherwise, the DL9 is quite nimble and will fit many wrists. Dimensions-wise we find a stainless steel body measuring 38mm in diameter, 48mm lug-to-lug, 12.8mm thick*, and has a 20mm lug width. The asterisk was necessary here because the brand specified on its website, and I must do so also, that 12.8mm is the total thickness excluding the strap. Generally, brands indicate whether the stated height of a watch includes the crystal or doesn’t—which is a silly thing to even question as it should always include the crystal—but here Sabre wanted you to know it doesn’t include the added thickness of the provided NATO-style nylon strap. 

The strap by the way is excellent, some of the smoothest seatbelt-type nylon fastening accoutrements I’ve come across at any price point, making the Sabre already a really good deal since the brand gives you two of them. 

Being a field watch, the DL9’s case is fully brushed of the radial type and…wait, that’s not true, the case sides are actually polished which is unusual for this type of timekeeping device. What is also unusual for a field watch is the shape of the case (which we will return to later on.) However, what is common is 100 meters of water resistance (screw-down case-back and crown,) good lume of the C3 type on the hands and printed hour markers, a flat sapphire crystal, and a Seiko NH35A caliber regulated in three positions. Um…I’m starting to think that the theme of this review isn’t straightforwardness in horology afterall, but the importance and relevance of independent watch brands (in our niche world of horology) because these specs aren’t actually common for a watch hand-assembled and regulated, especially so in a developed country. 

All of this indicates that the person behind the brand has a true passion for humble and good military watches. So he’s my type of guy and Sabre is my type of brand. 

Design

The brand describes the DL9 and all variants of their field watch (there are four in total) as “1940’s military-inspired watch with an English Industrially inspired twist.” I don’t know what the second part of the sentence refers to but I can tell you this: the DL9 is visually a bit of a field watch UFO and I absolutely love it. There is nothing typical about it and at the same time everything is. For example, Arabic numerals for the hour markers but printed large and bold so that they are easy to read during daytime and nighttime operations (activities). These are complemented by applied and fully polished rectangular elements which playfully interact with light at various angles. Not the best to remain incognito in a jungle but cool and good looking. (In direct sunlight and looking straight down at the dial these latter elements disappear.) 

Besides the hour markers, the handset also caught my intention for reminding me of any version of the Seiko Alpinist or the Oris Big Crown Pilot Date, in other words Cathedral hands with a reinforced and multipartite construction and ample real estate for lume. Akin to the iconic Rolex Mercedes handset—the origin of which nobody can actually verify—cathedral hands are amazing for field watches because they are legible and because it's easy to tell the hour from the minute hands when they are vertically stacked on top of one another. Moreover, the little tails at their end makes it possible for OCD watch nerds like yours truly to perfectly align the hands with the hour markers and hash-marks on the railroad minute track. The seconds hand is not devoid of visual interest either for having a red tip and lumed triangular element. 

Another UFO-like element of the Sabre DL9 is the dial texture, matte and grainy, looking like melted plastic or concrete (I can’t decide) and the purposely roughly printed brand name above the pinion. The latter appears to almost have been handpainted as dials back in the 1940s were indeed hand painted, making them look uneven. To complement the field watch look there is a framed date aperture at the three o’clock and Sabre gives you the option of a white or black date disc. I opted for the white one to preserve the overall symmetry of the dial as the white background of the date aperture looks best (according to me) with the large printed Arabic numerals. Last but not least, the case indeed looks a bit of an oddball here for being that of 1970s skin divers. It’s odd but I like it. 

The Heart of the Matter

At the heart of the matter is the fact that the Sabre DL9 gives you a lot of value for your money—which is always a good thing—but more importantly, it’s a fun watch to wear. It’s fun and well-built, legible and clean, and it manages to look like a million other field watches (after all, Sabre was inspired by 1940s military watches which have more or less looked the same since,) whilst looking like nothing else on the market today or 80 years ago. I like the duality of the DL9 which can be had for a meager sum of money, whether you’re paying the early bird or full retail price. In some ways, Sabre wanted to make its own interpretation of the typical field watch—which it successfully did—and in other ways it wanted to show you (and make you feel) that the DL9 is hand assembled and could have just as well been fully handmade. 

Again, for $245/$284 you get your money's worth. 

But more importantly, what Sabre manages to do with each version of their field watch—TW4, CV35, DL9 and TS17—is to give us the opportunity to own an independently designed and assembled military watch which comes with its own flair. Earlier in the article I indicated I wasn’t sure what the brand was referring to when it described their field watch a having “an English Industrially inspired twist.” But I was lying, sorry folks. Matt, Sabre’s founder and watchmaker, is from Middlesbrough in North East England which historically was known for its iron and steel industry and then for being an important coal port. Through his first collection, Matt wanted to bring a sense of ruggedness and straightforwardness to the classic genre of field and military watches and I would say he succeeded. This angle through which he designed the DL9 and its siblings is unique and worthy of your attention. 

Conclusion 

In some reviews I claim that we have to spend more to get more. More specs, better specs, rare specs. And that’s absolutely true. And I also claim that we can’t put a price tag on originality of design which means we should naturally expect to spend more to see something singular. But I feel the Sabre DL9 proves to be one of the rare exceptions to that rule. For less than $300 USD Matt gives us a lot of originality in the way he conceived and re-interpreted the oldest style of watches—field watches—which wasn’t an easy task to tackle. At the end of the day, we all dream of owning a good watch that doesn’t cost too much—and we truly all dream of this even though some of us don’t have the courage to say so—and I cannot think of a better reason to pull the trigger on a Sabre. 

So please go check out Matt’s full catalog and click on “Add to bag” and be H-A-P-P-Y. 

Thanks for reading.