Alba Active Automatic Green Dial Day Date Y676-X043GRSR (or AL4249X1) - Visually Strong, A Review (plus Video)

My first Alba watch! I always wanted to get one for the collection but I was patiently waiting for an automatic model to be available before taking the plunge. Although there were a number of automatic models being launched by the brand, Alba does not have a well spread AD network in Malaysia. 

I have always loved dive watches. When I saw the Active AL42 series by Alba, I decided to get one as the first of its name in the collection. However, only City Chain store has it in one of its branch in Mid Valley (they are the AD for the brand but for Mid Valley, they don't carry the automatic models). So I had to order. After a few days, what I ordered arrived and I went to pick it up.

I took the AL4249X1, the emerald green dial version with silicone strap. I could have taken the bracelet version but I decided to get the rubber strap instead.

The History of Alba

Alba is a Japanese watch brand launched in 1979. It is a brand owned by the Seiko Watch Corporation and caters for the younger customers with modern styling at a very reasonable price. As such, Alba is often associated with fashion watches. The word 'Alba' translates to 'dawn' in Italian and Spanish. 

Currently, Alba has six main sub-series: Signa, Fusion, Tokyo Neon, Prestige, Fashion and Active. The bulk of its models are quartz powered.

The Series

This series, the AL42 range is a dive watch design consisting of six (6) models. Half with bracelet while the other half with silicone strap. All six watches are powered by the mechanical Y676 movement.

AL4243X1 Green dial Bracelet Green bezel MSRP: RM570	AL4245X1 Blue dial Bracelet Blue bezel MSRP: RM570	AL4247X1 Black dial Bracelet Blue/Red bezel MSRP: RM570
AL4249X1 Emerald green dial Green silicone strap Orange/Black bezel MSRP: RM565	AL4250X1 Black dial Black silicone strap Gold/Black bezel MSRP: RM610	AL4251X1 Blue dial Blue silicone strap Blue/Red bezel MSRP: RM565

The price point for this series is relatively affordable. At this stage, I usually recommend to get the bracelet model and replace the bracelet with a strap of your choice as the price difference is just RM5 between a bracelet model and a strap model. However, as the watch is very affordable, not getting the bracelet as a backup is not an issue as it won't seriously affect the secondary price of the watch anyway. 

The Watch

The casing of the AL4249X1 is made out of stainless steel with a brushed surface texture. With a width of 43 mm, it has a lug-to-lug length of 49 mm and a height of 14 mm. Design-wise, it has a strong resemblance to the Seiko Tuna. The partial bezel guards at both the Northwest and Southeast corners of the casing are indicative of the design similarity. This is not a surprised as Alba is part of the Seiko group of companies.

The chapter ring around the emerald green dial is a straight and polished wall. At the edge of the dial is a minute scale with a mixture of various sizes of white lines and Arabic numerals. Next to it is the applied hour markers filled with luminous paint. The hour markers are framed with polished borders and are either round, rectangle or triangle in shape. Due to the need to have the day and date complications, an aperture has been cut where the 3:00 hour maker is supposed to be placed, also framed in polished metal. Both day and date wheels have white background. The day wheel has both the Roman numerals or English as a choice.

There are four lines of texts on the painted directly on the dial in white. The brand is printed on the upper quadrant while the rest are painted on the bottom quadrant. The words "AUTOMATIC", "WATER RESIST" and "10 BAR" are in various font sizes. Honestly, Alba should have just dropped the 'water resist' as '10 bar' is understood to mean the same. 

The handset is rather interesting. Instead of having a common theme, Alba decided to use the syringe-style for the hours hand, an arrowhead-style for the minutes hand and a needle-style with a round balance at the end for the seconds hand. A good portion of the hours and minutes hands are painted with luminous paint while the seconds hand is predominantly painted in orange with the round balance filled with luminous paint.

Protecting the dial is a flat mineral glass with no anti-reflective coating provided. I am surprised that Alba did not use the Hardlex crystal created by its parent company Seiko instead. 

Next to the crystal is the bi-directional bezel made out of stainless steel and polished. The bezel insert has dive watch markings in polished steel with a black background. For the first 10 minutes, the markings are in orange. There is a partial coin-edge on the bezel to facilitate grip. The bezel is partially protected by a couple of metal shoulders similar to what you find on Seiko Tunas. As the bezel is bidirectional instead of unidirectional, the watch cannot be called a dive watch. Moreover, the lack of an illuminated pip at 12:00 on the bezel is another of the design specifications that does not conform to the ISO6425 requirements of a dive watch.

At 4:00 is the unsigned crown. Using a simple push-in/pull-out system to engage the internal gears of the movement, the crown has three positions. At the first position (pushed all in), the crown can be turned but it does not do anything. At the second position (pulled halfway out), adjustment of the day and date by turning either clockwise or counterclockwise. As the third position (pulled all the way out), adjustment of the time can be done. Unfortunately, there is no hacking mechanism on the Y676 movement (more about this later).

The angled lugs are 20 mm across and comes with passthrough lug holes. This facilitate strap replacement quickly and easily.

The case-back is a screw-down and does not have a display window. Instead, a graphic depicting a couple of waves and the brand name can be found at the center of the case-back. The surface texture of the case-back is polished.

Underneath the case-back sits Alba's Y676 automatic movement. The Y676 is basically the Seiko 7S26 automatic movement. This 21 jeweled movement operating at a frequency of 21,600 BPH has approximately 41 hours of power reserve. There is no manual winding option nor a hacking mechanism when adjusting the time. 

The design of the watch casing has a water rating of 10 bars or 100 meters.

Paired with the watch casing is the unsigned green silicone strap with stainless steel tang buckle. The strap is well made with airholes (to allow air to circulate to the skin) and concertina (to allow the strap to stretch) sections. It is smooth to the touch and comfortable to wear.

Below is a photo of the watch in the dark.

The Wearing Experience

The design of the watch is very much in keeping production costs low. I believe Alba is only looking at the visual presentation perspective, whether the watch looks solid in the eyes of the beholder. The actual performance of the watch is secondary. To this end, Alba got the recipe right and the price point of the watch resonates well with a huge segment of the population.

 

 

Specifications

Reference: Y676-X043GRSR

Dial: Emerald green 

Material: Stainless steel

Crystal: Mineral glass

Strap: Green silicone with stainless steel tang buckle

Width: 43 mm

Length: 49 mm

Height: 14 mm

Lug width: 20 mm

Weight: xx

Water Resistance: 100 meters

Movement Reference: Y676

Movement Type: Automatic, no winding, no hacking

Jewels: 21

Frequency: 21,600 BPH

Power Reserve: Approximately 41 hours

Complications: Day either English/Roman, date, HMS & bidirectional bezel 

MSRP: RM565

Vendor: City Chain, Mid Valley Megamall

Purchase Date: 24 March 2022

Purchase Price: 346.43

Serial Number: 191012

Photo Gallery

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