A new release in the familiar industrial style of Jiro Katayama.
Japanese indie watchmaker and founder of the Otsuka Lotec brand, Jiro Katayama, introduced an intriguing new model with a rectangular case. Like Katayama's previous works, this watch blends modernism with industrial vintage inspiration. Such an accessory can easily be imagined in 1970s-1980s films where directors depicted visions of the future.
The case with faceted upper surfaces is made of stainless steel. With dimensions of 31 x 48 mm, the thickness of the watch is 10.8 mm. Notable external features include a deliberately coarse crown at the 4 o'clock position and a curved sapphire crystal that offers a view from the right side.
If you are familiar with the Otsuka Lotec brand, you know that a classic dial with rotating hands is not what Jiro Katayama offers. Instead, the new mechanism combines a jumping hour and a retrograde minute hand, synchronized for simultaneous action.
The jumping hour is located on the left side of the dial: time is displayed with a large hand in an almost classic 12-hour format. There is a small cutout on top for seconds indication with a disc rotating every 90 seconds.
To the right of the jumping hour is the retrograde minute indicator. The complication module moves from bottom to top along an arched scale and, upon reaching 60, returns to zero. Simultaneously, the hour hand jumps to the next number.
The novelty is based on the Miyota 90S5 automatic caliber, to which a proprietary module is attached. The module consists of 62 components and uses 3 ball bearings. One of them (manufactured by MinebeaMitsumi) has a diameter of only 1.5 mm and is currently the smallest in the industry. The other two ball bearings have a diameter of 2.5 mm. With a balance frequency of 4 Hz, the mechanism provides just 32 hours of autonomy. The modest power reserve is explained by the module's high energy consumption.
The watch comes with a 24 mm wide black rubber strap. The approximate cost of the model, including taxes, is 990,000 Japanese yen or about €5,390.
As with the brand's previous models, the watch will be raffled in a lottery (draw begins on March 23, 2026, at 5:00 PM Japanese time). Only individuals with a bank card issued in Japan and a Japanese delivery address can apply to participate in the draw.