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 1973 Seiko 5740-8000 Lord Marvel 3600 Hi-Beat mechanical here - during the 1960s.
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 - Seiko launched its manual winding caliber 5740C in 1967.
The Seiko 5740 was the first Japanese 36,000 bph movement, and the 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 through 1975, and the high beat 5740C – like the one here – is considered as the 3rd generation Lord Marvel model, representing 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.
1973 Seiko 5740-8000 Lord Marvel 36000 Hi-Beat Dress Mechanical
DIAL: Seiko Lord Marvel-signed silver linen texture dial, with ever-so-light "streak" patina, and matching hour, minute, and second hands.
CASE: Stainless-steel case measures 37.5mm x 41.5mm - thin at a mere 10mm in thickness. Caselines are sharp, with no evidence of machine polish.
CRYSTAL: Domed acrylic crystal, no scratches.
BAND: This Lord Marvel comes on a light blue suede leather strap; it also comes with a black nylon strap.
MOVEMENT: Seiko 5740C 23-jewel manual wind chronometer movement, manufactured in March 1973. We have performed a full service on this Lord Marvel.
CROWN: Unsigned stainless-steel crown.
