Hands-On: Why This Brand You Can Only Get In Japan – Ōtsuka Lōtec – Won GPHG’s Challenge Prize

Welcome to “GPHG Week,” a themed mini-series where we’re covering four winning watches from this year’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève that you otherwise may have previously missed. Today we have the Ōtsuka Lōtec No. 6 ,which was awarded the “Challenge” award at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève this year for best watch under CHF 3,000.

If you’ve been on “watch internet” in the last year or two, you’ve likely seen the watches of the Japanese brand Ōtsuka Lōtec. Maybe you’ve seen the No. 6 or No. 7.5 being offered on Reddit or other sites for five, six, seven, or even $10,000. You may have seen the watches on the wrist of journalists like my colleague Masaharu Wada of Hodinkee Japan wearing the No. 7.5 or influencers like WatchMissGMT (who I think of as WatchMissLotec now) wearing the No. 6. Well, two weeks ago the Ōtsuka Lōtec No. 6 won the “Challenge” award at GPHG. So if you have no idea what I’ve been talking about, now is the time to catch up.

While on vacation in Japan, I took a bit of time to venture to the outskirts of Tokyo with my friend and colleague from Hodinkee Japan, Masaharu Wada. It seemed like a waste to have traveled halfway around the world and not visit a few brands and people I wouldn’t normally see. That included my friend John Nagayama, who I featured in a Four+One recently, but on this day I was venturing to a conference room across the street from the workshops of independent watchmaker and businessman Hajime Asaoka. 

While we got to look at watches from Asaoka’s more affordable brands Kurono Tokyo and the newer Takano, we didn’t get a chance to see his eponymous watches. Instead, we got a chance to meet with Jiro Katayama, an industrial designer with a background in cars and appliances who took his passion for watches from his apartment, to a garage, and to a GPHG “Challenge” prize this year for best watch under CHF 3,000.

Like many great things in Japan – whether it’s the Skyline GTR or a lot of cool Grand Seikos – Ōtsuka Lōtec is a JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) darling. For now, you can only get the brand’s watches in Japan – released mainly via a lottery system – and the watches have to be delivered to a Japanese address and can only be processed by credit card issued via a Japanese bank. That’s a lot of hoops to jump through and why the prices on the secondary market are so high, but it sounds like Katayama – and Asaoka, who is now supporting the brand – hope to change that eventually. 

Beyond the attractive price point and creative engineering (which I’ll get to in a second), there’s the fact the Ōtsuka Lōtec watches just have such an unusual design. In many ways, I lucked out that I got to see the most recent version of the No. 6 for this story, since it would go on to win an award at GPHG. The No. 6 has a lot of character, with a relatively unusual but intuitive and legible retrograde display, reminiscent of the one on a Vacheron Mercator (but flipped upside-down). During our visit, Masa-san was wearing his person No. 7.5 (shown below) which has a striking resemblance to a Vianney Halter Antiqua. And this was one of the first things I discussed with Katayama.

Here’s where I have to admit something sad and frustrating. For the first time ever, my iPhone’s voice memo failed to record. Or rather, it recorded and the entire thing was corrupted. From now on, I’ll carry a spare recorder as a backup, but I don’t have direct quotes from our hour together. Instead, I can give you a bit of Katayama’s backstory.

Jiro Katayama isn’t a traditional watchmaker but follows more in the footsteps of other design greats like Max Büsser and Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani who come to watches through a pure passion for design. Katayama-san worked for years as an industrial designer working on cars and appliances. He worked in the automotive industry but in 2008 purchased a bench lathe machine small enough to fit in his apartment (which in Japan is no small feat). That limited size also limited what he could make, so he turned to watches, putting him on this path.

Katayama-san told me that he largely operated in a vacuum from the watch world for some time, working on case designs and modules inspired by other parts of industrial design. Yes, he became aware of Halter’s work eventually, but you have to keep in mind that as revolutionary as that watch was, the design of the Antiqua itself didn’t come from nowhere. In my eyes, the No. 7.5 reminds me a lot of the three-lensed vintage 8mm cameras, with the hours, minutes, and running seconds separated out. Meanwhile, the No. 6 instantly reminds me of the gauges on an automotive dashboard. Both feel incredibly industrial but thoughtful and well finished.

There’s a sense of nostalgia and sentimentality in Katayama’s designs, but also a level of practicality. The watch removes almost everything superfluous (you could easily say the date on the No. 6 could be considered extraneous, but I don’t find it bothersome) and reduced it down to fine layers of brushed surfaces and dark stamped text on the dial. It says everything you need to know (albeit in Japanese). At top: “No. 6 Mechanical” and “Teshima Tokyo.” To the left: “Made by Ōtsuka Lōtec.” And at the right: “Daily life waterproof” for its 30m of water resistance.

The watch is powered by an automatic Miyota 9015 movement, which you can see through the display caseback. There’s not much to see, but you do get a view of the gently sloped case side that narrows to a rounded edge and then another sloping caseback band. The lugs are yet again very industrial seeming in how they stick out from the case but – and I’ll just keep repeating this – very charming. The movement has a 40-hour power reserve and includes those retrograde hours and minutes which are powered by a module designed by Katayama. You can see that module in action on the brand’s website though its hidden beneath the dial otherwise. There’s also a disc for running seconds in the lower center and the date “hole” as well.

At first I wasn’t sure about the No. 6. Frankly, the retrograde hands looked almost a little delicate to me (same could be said). It is also remarkable how much the completely flat sapphire crystal just completely disappears at almost every angle with its AR coating. I think part of my reaction from seeing the watch in pictures was a disbelief at the idea there even WAS a crystal, which made me think, “That will get full of dust. What if it rains? I’d definitely snag one of those hands and snap it off.” No such worries, though.

Then there’s the raised section for the hands, which really does have a more porthole quality than any Royal Oak, Nautlius, or Hublot design and accentuates that Steampunk vibe that makes it so special in this modern age. Not many brands have carried the torch that Halter set out with decades ago now, but Katayama absolutely nails it.

And he nails it all the way down to the crown, which is probably the most rough part of the entire watch and yet it still works. It’s not easy on the fingers and has the kind of textured grip you’d find in a truly industrial piece of machinery. But it comes together well against the brushed and polished surfaces and sticks out of the case in a kind of whimsical way. A crown at three o’clock may have in fact ruined the entire thing and ruined the suspension of disbelief that makes you feel like you’re looking at a piece of machinery pulled from the boiler room of a steamship rather than a watch.

The No. 6 (and 7.5 alike) was recently updated with improved materials that help fix some basic issues with the original releases, including the sapphire glass instead of mineral, better stainless steel, and (though it helps with cohesiveness, a potential downgrade) switching from a meteorite dial on the earliest No. 6 to this brushed steel dial. As of late in 2023, Katayama was working with three employees to produce about 15 watches a month, but with the new involvement of Hajime Asaoka, production should start to ramp up. While I’ve heard anecdotal evidence that some early adopters had reliability and service issues with these pieces, these too seem to be going away as the brand starts to expand their facilities and capabilities.

The 316L stainless-steel case measures 42.6mm by 11.8mm, which on paper feels a bit large. But beyond practicalities of movement restrictions, it works for such a Steampunk design. Because the raised section for the retrograde display narrows in diameter, when viewed from the side the watch doesn’t seem so tall. The case design helps the watch feel like it sits lower on the wrist. The watch comes with a calf leather strap secured with a pin buckle engraved with the brand’s logo, but it has two sections of padding running parallel which makes it seem much more sporty than normal calf leather.

Since coming back from Japan, I had at least five friends ask me for a “hook up” with Ōtsuka Lōtec. Since the GPHG win, I’ve had maybe three more in a week reach out. Ben has talked about how he had random people coming out of the woodwork trying to get a 5711 at retail during the Nautilus hype days, and apparently the No. 6 is my 5711. Actually, all the better that it is; that tells me that people are thinking outside the box once again. Unfortunately, with all the restrictions, I’m not able to help. Heck, I’d get one for myself if I could. GPHG win aside, I really think this new generation of affordable indies (I hate to use the term microbrands for someone like Katayama-san, in the same way I no longer use it for Furlan Marri) is doing something special for the community.

Unfortunately, this story runs after a good chance to buy a unique version of the Ōtsuka Lōtec No.6 offered at Phillips thematic Japanese “Toki” sale in Hong Kong last weekend. The example, with a blackened stainless steel case and smoked sapphire dial, was named “東雲 Shinonome,” referring to the sky just before dawn (and I promise you, the dawn is coming). The watch sold for a massive $68,500 while a standard version of the No. 6 sold for $60,300 at the same auction (which seems absolutely wild). But soon enough, I think Ōtsuka Lotec will be easier to get and you’ll be seeing a lot more of them around on Instagram, at meetups, and maybe even on your own wrists.

Ōtsuka Lōtec No. 6, 42.6mm diameter x 11.8mm thick 316L stainless steel case, with flat sapphire crystal and anti-reflective coating; 30m water resistance. Flat, brushed dial and retrograde hours and minutes, plus running seconds and date. Miyota 9015 automatic movement with Jiro Katayama-designed and manufactured retrograde module; 40 hours of power reserve. Calfskin strap with branded pin buckle. Price: JPY 440,000 or approximately $2,800 at time of publication.

​Hodinkee 

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