When one brings up high quality vintage Seiko, Grand Seiko and King Seiko are almost always the first to come, due to high finishing standard and technological development – however, the first Seiko with a high-beat mechanical movement was housed in neither of these two lines, but rather the Lord Marvel - like this full serviced & Arabic-dialed 1967 Seiko 5740-8000 Lord Marvel 3600 Hi-Beat mechanical here, aka the "Marvel Feige" - during the 1960s.
 
In mid-2023, actor/comedian Ronny Chieng recounted his gifting of one of these Seiko Lord Marvel 5740s to GQ Magazine, "Basically, after we filmed [Marvel Cinematic Universe film] 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,' I saw this watch that my Seiko dealer, the guy (DC Vintage Watches) who sold me the Bruce Lee watch had.   It’s this Seiko watch that says 'Lord Marvel' on it.  And I can't say I knew what it was, but when I saw it, I was like, 'Oh, this would be a great gift for [President of Marvel Studios & CCO Marvel] Kevin Feige .'”  
 
"So I bought it and I gave it to Kevin Feige, and he’s a very down-to-earth guy.  He doesn't even have a watch, or at least he doesn't wear any watches, doesn't care about watches, in a very down-to-earth way.  Very practical guy.  And I just said, 'Hey, thank you so much for everything you've done for me and Hollywood movies.  Just as a fan, I hope you can accept this small gift.  It's not the most expensive watch in the world, but I think it's really cool.  I think it's very you.  It says Lord Marvel on it.  It's a vintage Seiko.'  And he was like, 'Oh, yeah, thanks so much.'  He took it and he wore it to some premiere somewhere."
 
During the 1960s era, most mechanical movements operated at 18,000 beats per hour (bph).   As usual, the Swiss watchmaking world sought to dominate this field, but shortly after their first entry – the Girard Perregaux in 1966.
 
In response, Seiko launched its manual winding caliber 5740C in 1967, which became the first Japanese 36,000 bph movement, and second in the world. Of interesting note, the 5740C was the precursor to the caliber 44 used inside the King Seiko Chronometer.
 
Seiko would manufacture the Lord Marvel 5740 from 1967 and 1975, and the high beat 5740C – like the one here – is considered to be the 3rd generation Lord Marvel model and represents the peak of the line.
 
As noted by Worn & Wound, “[The 5740-8000 Lord Marvel] is a quintessential dress watch, with clean lines, understated elegance, and of course a beautiful and technologically advanced in-house manual wind movement.”
 
This Lord Marvel 36000 comes on a leather strap, and with nylon strap, rugged travel case, and springbar tool.