Takano, Otsuka Lotec watches on display at Isetan store in Tokyo

For watch aficionados, it’s high time to finally see two of the most coveted independent Japanese watch brands they have never seen in person, unless they were selected in a lottery to buy one.

The Isetan Shinjuku department store in Tokyo has started a permanent exhibition of products from Takano, which was revived by Hajime Asaoka, and Otsuka Lotec, operated by Jiro Katayama.

The products are only for display and are not for sale in the store.

The watch section of the department store in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward took this unusual step to create an exhibition space for watches that are extremely difficult to obtain.

Both Takano and Otsuka Lotec produce only limited quantities of watches, which are sold online by lottery.

They are so much sought-after that even watch enthusiasts have had few opportunities to see the real thing.

“I wanted, before everything else, to create a space for putting them on display,” said Hisaya Hashimoto, a buyer for the Isetan Shinjuku store, who organized the exhibit.

Showing products at a department store is usually intended to promote sales, but not this time.

“It’s not quite about selling or not selling,” Hashimoto said. “There is significance in letting the public know that Japan has watches like these to offer.”

In the backdrop to the showing is the rise in international acclaim for independent Japanese watchmakers.

Otsuka Lotec won a category prize at the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix (GPHG) in 2024.

Takano’s Chateau Nouvel Chronometer was the first Japan-made watch to earn a chronometer certificate from the Besancon Observatory of France.

Watch products of both brands have been included in the collection of the International Museum of Horology (MIH) in Switzerland.

Japan is home to many parts manufacturers and processors with high-precision processing technologies.

But the culture of independent watchmakers, who work on everything from design to assembly in an integrated manner, has not gained much currency as in Europe.

Asaoka manufactured a tourbillon watch in 2009, which was the first of the kind to be made in Japan.

He went on to work in earnest as an independent watchmaker and has earned a reputation from overseas collectors.

Katayama and other Japanese have followed suit and increased their presence in the world of watchmaking.

Asaoka welcomes the opportunity being provided by Isetan.

“I have always wanted a venue for showing our real watches,” he said.

Takano, Asaoka’s brand, manufactures only about 100 watches a year, and it is not easy to increase that output rate drastically.

Katayama said, “I wanted to reach out to those who don’t know about Otsuka Lotec yet.”

There is an intensifying trend, in the market of luxury watches in the most recent years, for paying attention not just to asset value and scarcity but also to the manufacturers and the manufacturing process itself, sources said.

“A growing number of our customers are finding value in watches that make them feel they know who manufactured them,” Hashimoto said.