The ISSEY MIYAKE brand TO Automatic designed by Tokuji Yoshioka and made by Seiko Japan is yet another example of a quality that makes many Japanese watches special — tradition melded with modernism. This Seiko automatic a big, high-quality design.

 
Model SI-SILAS002

One of my favorite features of this watch is it has no “dial.” Instead there are two moving discs that record minutes and hours. It’s a large, heavy stainless-steel-cased watch at 45.3 mm in diameter, 13.2 mm thick, 122 grams weight for leather band version — that’s more than the big, recently discontinued Seiko 300m Professional Quartz diver watch weighs! Click here to see TO Automatic bracelet version, which has solid end pieces, and weighs in at 200g. The TO Automatic is 100m water resistant with a sapphire crystal.

It’s powered by a 23-jewel Seiko automatic movement Caliber NE15A (probably Cal. 6R15 in the Mechanical line) that handwinds and keeps time to ±25–15 seconds per day. The retail price is ¥100,000. It’s all Made in Japan.

The TO Automatic was designed by Tokujin Yoshioka and Seiko Japan for ISSEY MIYAKE. Yoshioka is another Japanese designer whose work is displayed by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.
The watch was featured in the June 15, 2008 issue of one of my favorite Japanese magazines called Pen. The magazine focuses on Japanese culture and design, and is another example of Japanese ability to integrate the old and new, the domestic and foreign, in a uniquely Japanese way.
Thanks to the Japanese Web site Nuts for the images used in this post.