Alba Trailmaster V501

It's raining hard this morning, so I wanted a watch that was used to the outdoors.

This watch is by the Seiko brand Alba, and is part of their Trailmaster range. The Trailmaster watches seem to be designed for light outdoor pursuits, being rugged, but not overly so.

This model is based around the V501 module, previously seen in a couple of Alba Neatnik watches. It is a basic 3 hand design with a Japanese quartz module (possibly Seiko Epson), and cased in China. The hands and numbers are high visibility and very easy to read, so ideal for the outdoors, and the Trailmaster name is printed around the edge of the case. The case is hard resin with a thick plastic glass, and is made to be 10 bar water resistant. The strap is fabric so hard to break, yet comfortable and quick drying. This is the black version, but they made versions of this design in navy blue, white, and dark green too.

Looking at the serial number, and the dates of the other V501 watches points towards this being from 1998, and that was confirmed when I found it in the catalogue. The full model number is V501-0BH0, the catalogue number was APBH031, and the original sale price was ¥3500.