 |
About SII
SII designs, manufactures, and distributes high quality timepiece and electronic products around the world. Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII), is a division of The Seiko Group. The Seiko Group is comprised of three core divisions, Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII), Seiko Holdings Corporation (Seiko), and Seiko Epson Corporation (Epson). The SII subsidiaries in the United States are Seiko Instruments USA Inc., (SIU) and SII Marketing International (SMI).
SII, SIU and SMI, partner with premier brand names such as Alessi, Andy Warhol, Appetime, Bobby Jones, Issey Miyake, Original Penguin by Munsingwear and more. SII also partner with major retailers in the United States and elsewhere around the world, to bring our products to you. In addition, we are honored many prestigious name brand watch companies use SII timepiece movements and batteries in their watches.
At SII, we engage in the value and ideas of time for individuals, corporations and societies. We value the past, embrace the present and look to the future.
Information Links for SII
Seiko Instruments Inc.
Seiko
Seiko Instruments USA Inc.
The Seiko Group
About Our Partners
Alessi
The collection of unique and modern Alessi wrist watches has been developed in conjunction with Seiko Instruments Incorporated, a company that brings together vast professional experience in the field of Japanese and American watch-making.
Alessi was founded in 1921 by Giovanni Alessi. Highly respected for his craftsmanship, Giovanni Alessi created small hand-made objects with various metals and finishes for the table and for the home.
The road that led Alessi from being a small artisan concern working with metal to become the most well known Italian design factory in the world, was a long one. Alessi gradually turned into a research laboratory in the field of applied arts calling on the collaboration of the best talents on the international design scene.
Convinced that design is one of the most typical forms of art and poetry of our times, Alessi has developed the role of art mediator, which has led to work with hundreds of designers. With the help of these designers, Alessi has become the "dream factory". No other company in the world has brought together poetry, creativity, culture, foresight, sincerity, modernism and design excellence.
It is the valued master craftsmen, who fired the relentless research which in recent years has led Alessi to experiment with new materials, new technologies and new product territories. Alessi Watches is one such territory.
Many of the Alessi Watches offer special features such as chronograph movements, also known as chrono. Other features may include automatic, kinetic, mechanical or self-winding movements. Alessi Watches are defined by their interesting, contemporary and elegant design. Alessi designers use amazing color combinations and a wide range of versatile materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, alloys, leather and plastics like urethane.
"Alessi is a trademark registered by F.A.O. spa, Italy"
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol 15 is a statement of individuality and confidence. It's a forward thinking watch collection for the masses predicated on the notion that we will all be famous for 15 minutes of our lives. The core of this brand is creativity. It embraces Warhol's sophisticated sense of design, forward thinking concepts and the ability to see the familiar from an unexpected perspective. This collection pushes the boundaries of design and maintains Warhol's relevance to the advancement of visual and consumer culture.
The Andy Warhol 15 watch collection features The Pop Collection that was inspired from artwork from Warhol's early days as a fashion illustrator, and works that laid the foundation for the Pop Culture movement that challenged the world to see art differently. Some of the popular watches in this cool and trendy collection are Banana, Cow, Gun, Flower and Cadillac. The Pack Series is a line of watches that takes off on Warhol's fascination with mass consumerism. This collection features watches in a 3 pack. A popular watch in this series is the Campbell Soup collection. One of the latest Andy Warhol watch is the Special Edition Marilyn Monroe watch. This opulent watch features Swiss movement, Swarovski Crystals, a genuine Reptile strap, a fancy deployant buckle and a special custom enamel crown. These collections of watches were produced under a license from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., a New York not for profit corporation, which promotes the visual arts. Andy's cultural legacy lives on through his artworks and the work of The Andy Warhol Foundation and Andy Warhol Museum.
Andy Warhol timepieces embrace Warhol's sophisticated sense of design. Andy Warhol 15 is available in an ongoing series of limited editions; the line is a statement of playful individuality and like Warhol himself, toys with ideas of mass consumption, consumerism, celebrity and popular culture. Warhol's life was an endless exercise in redefining himself, which Andy Warhol 15 takes as its starting point; creating an irreverent, playful and design-savvy new line of wrist art. Andy Warhol 15 offers timepieces in a variety of materials including special injected plastics, aluminum and leather. Some features include deployant buckles and watches in convenient multiple packs.
Enjoy these cool, exciting, colorful and unusual watches. Approved by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., a New York not-for-profit corporation, in partnership with SII Marketing International. "Everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes." -AW
Warhol biography:
Andy Warhol was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1928, the son of immigrant parents from Slovakia. In 1945, he entered the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) where he majored in pictorial design. Upon graduation, Warhol moved to New York City where he found steady work as a commercial artist. He worked as an illustrator for several magazines including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and the New Yorker and did advertising and window displays for retail stores such as Bonwit Teller and I. Miller Shoes. Prophetically, his first commercial assignment was for Glamour magazine for an article titled "Success is a job in New York."
Throughout the 1950's, Warhol enjoyed a successful career as a commercial artist, winning several commendations from the Art Director's Club and the American Institute of Graphic Arts. In these early years, he shortened his name to "Warhol". In 1952, the artist had his first individual show at the Hugo Gallery, exhibiting fifteen drawings based on the writings of Truman Capote. His work was exhibited in several other venues during the 1950's, including his first group show at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1956.
The 1960's was an extremely prolific decade for Warhol. Appropriating images from popular culture, Warhol created many paintings that remain icons of 20th Century contemporary art, such as the Campbell's Soup Cans, and the Death and Disaster paintings, which began, with his Marilyn Monroe paintings after her suicide. In addition to painting, Warhol made several 16mm films, which have become underground classics such as Chelsea Girls and Empire. In 1968, Valerie Solanis, founder and sole member of SCUM (Society for Cutting up Men) walked into Warhol's studio, known as The Factory, in Union Square located in New York City, and shot the artist. The attack was nearly fatal.
In 1969, Warhol founded and began publishing Interview Magazine, and renewed his focus on painting. Works created in this decade include Mao, Skulls, Hammer and Sickles, Torsos, Shadow, and many commissioned portraits of the rich and famous from Mick Jagger to the Shah of Iran. Warhol also published a book titled The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (from A to B and back again). Firmly established as the preeminent 20th century American artist and international celebrity, Warhol exhibited his work extensively in museums and galleries around the world.
The artist began the 1980's with the publication of his book POPism: The Warhol '60's and with exhibitions of various series of works such as The Last Supper, Rorschach, Camouflage, Self Portrait (Fright Wig) and, in a return to his great theme of Pop Art, a series called Ad's. He also created two cable television shows, "Andy Warhol's TV" in 1982, and the first talk show on MTV called "Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes" in 1986. Warhol also engaged in a series of collaborations with younger artists, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente and Keith Haring.
Following routine gall bladder surgery, Andy Warhol died unexpectedly on February 22, 1987. After his burial in Pittsburgh, his friends and associates organized a memorial mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City on April 1, 1987 that was attended by more than 2,000 people.
In 1989, The Museum of Modern Art in New York City had a major retrospective of his works. Later, The Andy Warhol Museum opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in May 1994.
©/®/™ The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Bobby Jones
The Bobby Jones timepieces are designed with a commitment to quality and elegance in every detail. Throughout the collection, interesting features include textured dials, solid stainless steel cases, and sub dials that indicate day, date and seconds. Every watch features a mineral crystal, a deployant buckle etched with the Bobby Jones logo, and a water resistance rating from 50 to 100 meters.
The legend that is Bobby Jones includes integrity, dignity and pure elegance and is reflected within one of the finest sportswear collections in the world. Products include golf equipment, timepieces, belts and small leather goods. Bobby Jones owns and operates freestanding stores in Beverly Hills, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Hawaii, and a shop within the Hickey Freeman Fifth Avenue flagship store. In addition to its retail stores, Bobby Jones products are also available at fine retailers, specialty stores, country clubs, resorts, and on the Bobby Jones e-commerce site www.bobbyjonesshop.com. Bobby Jones is a division of Hickey Freeman Co., Inc. Hickey Freeman is a subsidiary of Hartmarx Corporation, which produces and markets business, casual and golf apparel for both men and women through a broad range of retail channels.
Issey Miyake
Issey Miyake produces the most innovative series of luxury watches possible by bringing together the creative and imaginative impulses of architects, industrial and interior designers and contemporary artists. Issey Miyake offers timepieces called, Trapezoid, Twelve, TO, Vakio, Vakio2 and Insetto.
Trapezoid, designed by Naoto Fukasawa, is a trapezoid form in rotation. The bezel is cut steeply, and a tachymeter is provided on it. Numbers are proportioned like speed limits painted on a road surface, stretched in height to be readable normally when viewed from the front, despite their steep angles around the circumference. It's a familiar scene and effect and it is used now in combination with chronograph functions. In the same way, fashion and motor sports are unified via the use of strong color contrasts.
Twelve was also designed by Naoto Fukasawa. He designed a watch that is as simple and as strong as possible. This inspired Naoto to give the crystal itself twelve sides. With the twelve angles of the case serving as the hour markers, He only had to add the hour and minute hands. The result is a sharp face distinguished by the unique angular shape and wide hands. This is a strong, clear and simple design for the brand of Issey Miyake.
The "TO" series reflects Tokujin Yoshioka's unique approach to design. He begins with a selection of material; then extracts its character, minimalizing design elements. As a result, the watches look as if they have been sculpted from a lump of metal. The fusing of Issey Miyake's creative vision and SII's advanced technology of watch-making, now embraces the design inspirations of Tokujin Yoshioka, giving birth to the new "TO" series.
Harri Koskinen, a famous industrial designer, designed a simple and clean watch concept called Vakio. In the Finnish language 'vakio' means, constant standard. The Vakio's innovative design concept is based on Northern European industrial design with an orientation toward stylish and visual beauty in a design you will love forever.
Vakio2, also designed by Harri Koskinen, is a sculptural dial face evoking the winter land of Scandinavia covered with a mysterious veil of white snow, with a lime green second hand showing the first sign of spring. In contrast to the first generation models featuring squared forms, the new Vokio distinguishes itself with a soft, rounded style and a wider range of design variations.
Shunji Yamanaka has designed Insetto. Time is of no use to the natural world. We humans, however, need time to understand this wondrous world and invented the watch to measure it. The watch tells us the position of the sun, the duration of walking and the moment a flower blooms.
A watch is an intelligent agent for everyday exploration. It is also an essential tool for the observation and recording of the activities of small creatures. A wristwatch behaves as a clever servant that fills the demand of a scientific attitude. The Insetto design incorporates several concepts such as Jean-Henri Fabre, natural history and the flow of time in the biosphere. The final design statement, "A watch as an intelligent agent for everyday exploration,' clearly describes the new watch Insetto.
Beauty and function, hand craftsmanship and high technology. The contrasting strengths of skilled manufacturing bring fulfillment to our lives. Skilled manufacturing is at the heart of everything Issey Miyake does, and that spirit is expressed nowhere better than in these wristwatches. Insetto is the Italian word for "insect," and indeed these watches are imbued with the delicacy and warmth of nature's most fascinating creatures.
Purchase directly from Seiko Instruments USA, Inc. at 512-349-3800 or visit the Issey Miyake watch site at http://www.isseymiyake-watch.com/index.html for further information.
Copyright© Seiko Instruments Inc., 2007. All rights reserved.
© 2006 Issey Miyake Inc.
An Original Penguin by Munsingwear
Inspiration for the Original Penguin watch collection is derived from the philosophy of the brand itself; a commitment to the 1950's heritage, combined with the ideology of a new generation that demands quality and design.
Our obsession with design, paired with superior intellect and sharp humor, creates a watch collection unlike any other in the marketplace. It requires a bit of intuition, followed by long hours fueled by random sparks of inspiration. Every detail is intentional. A message we are confident that will speak to the ethos of this new generation.
An Original Penguin by Munsingwear can be purchased at www.originalpenguin.com
©2007 PEI Licensing, Inc. All rights reserved.
 |
|
