Seiko Lord Marvel 36000 5740-8000 1967-1977

In 1967, Seiko introduced its first 36,000 bph movement, the 5740C. It was the second in the world to reach that beat, after a calibre made by Girard-Perregaux.

To house that new movement, Seiko used the Lord Marvel range, which had been launched a couple of years before and modernised its design.
The Lord Marvel 5740-8000 36000 “LM36” was born.

Presentation

The design of this Lord Marvel is modern for 1967. If the case is round shaped, the lugs are sharp and give a more sporty design.
The watch only displays time. This watch was sold with a black leather band and the case was available in gold plated or stainless steel. Two dials were available, one with arabic numbers hour markers (ref 8030) and one with baton markers (ref 8020). The model had a quite long lifespan, from 1967 to 1977 and was at the end of its career quite cheap. The steel model was sold 14,000 yens in 1977, that was less than a Seiko Actus from the same year.

The dial & hands

The 8020 dial only has few markings. The Seiko logo is located under the 12 o’clock marker, as usual. On the lower half of the dial, we have the wording “Lord Marvel” in caps and just below, a striking “36000”.
As usual, at the very bottom “JAPAN” and the dial reference (8020R AD).
The hour markers are made of steel metal batons with a black stripe, the 12 o’clock one is doubled.
The hour and minute hands are of dauphine type, the second hand is a simple thin one.

The case

The 8000 case is only 34.5 mm wide, which was quite standard dimensions in the european production but was quite small for a Seiko.
The outer face of the back has the Seiko logo surrounded by the usual mentions to the case material, the movement and case references and the water resistance. On the picture on the right, you can see the “Water proof” mention which was only on the early models, it has been later prohibited by the US regulations and replaced by “Water resistant”. Finally, the unique serial number is engraved below the logo.
The crystal is a traditional acrylic glass, pressed on the case.
The crown isn’t signed.

The movement

The 5740C movement is the ultimate evolution of the Seikosha 560 from the early 60’s. Some parts are by the way in common.
It is a hand wound movement with 23 jewels.
The balance can be fine adjusted by rotating the screw shown on the picture left.
It is reliable and runs usually very steadily. The only issue I had to deal with is a broken mainspring. Hopefully, the model is quite common and spare parts too.

In conclusion

This Lord Marvel is part of Seiko’s history, being the first 36,000 bph watch made by the japanese manufacturer.
The thing I particularly like with that model is its simplicity, displaying time is the essence of a watch and I’m not so keen on day and date watches.
And cherry on top, when you put your ear against the watch, you can hear this crazy 36,000 beats per hour. 10 ticks by second.