There is really no difference between the two, at the abstract level. It's all about having a pattern of some sort that's expected and having a bunch of other patterns that will work regardless. It's then a game. Can the lock designer make it too hard to find those patterns? Can the lock breaker find the careless mistake or overlooked possibility?
You might know the history better than me, I rarely went into the locksmith groups on USENET, but I'm fairly sure Kryptonite locks were broken in the early 90s and I've not heard of any better mechanical lock since then although there must be many by now. What are some of the top contenders in the running these days?
Most seriously strong contenders are European. Simply America has little need for them. To explain this is simple, America rarely modernizes; business put something into service and leave it there forever as long as it is serviceable.
With a local domestic market of a quarter of a billion people who needs to modernize especially something like a lock. Another thing is American mentality toward crime, when people in America act anti-social such as breaking and entering they go to jail.
Afterwards these professional criminals cannot vote, have issues obtaining drivers licences and are barred from a lot of professions and no government work. While in jail they studied hard to become a better criminal yet any further unlawfulness on their part is paid for by insurance companies, which is priced into a customers premiums.
So simply there is no need for a truly secure lock in most of America, those who need ultra quality locks simply import overseas models. So overseas models are virtually unbeatable even by the best penetration testers.
One model from France actually has the key as a part of the lock itself, so unless you know you will be fighting this design no matter how skillful you are you cannot beat it simply from lack of the required parts . . .
And thank you for your wonderful comments previously ! ! !