Seiko Lord Marvel 5740-8000, 36000bhp

In today standards 28,800 bph (or 8 bps) for watches is fairly common among wristwatches, so one could easily imagine the gravity of developing a 36,000 bph or 10 bps timepiece back in the 1960s. A joint effort among Swiss makers was needed to develop the very first 36,000 bph hi-beat movement.Girard Perregaux headed that effort in 1966, and was first to create a 36,000 bph movement. 

In 1967, Seiko found their stride and developed their very first Hi-Beat caliber – the hand-wound 5740C. It is interesting to note that the cal. 5740C was not built into a Grand Seiko, but rather it was the Seiko Lord Marvel that was honored as the company’s first 36,000 bph or 10 bps watch "hi beats"

As such, the  Seiko Lord Marvel was a special watch with the 5740C  movement -Seiko's first 36000 bph movement with a very rapid 5 oscillations per second. It is the pre-cursor of the 44KS 36000 movement (paved the way for the high end King Seiko and Grand Seiko watches) which went on to win the chronometer competition at Neuchatel for a couple of years in a row before Seiko were disqualified for not being Swiss (or for posing too great a challenge) leading Seiko to drop using the Chrometer standard and developed their own stand, the Grand Seiko. 

The 5740C having a high grade movement, even though it is a handwind and not an automatic watch, it is still a highly collectable watch made from 第二精工舎（亀戸工場）.

With 36000 bph, it means the movement in this watch "beats" 36,000 times per hour, or ticks 10 times per second (When this watch was made, Rolex's best movement beat 19,800 times per hour or 5.5 times per second, and to this day their best tops out at 28,800 or 8 times per second). This provides for a sweeping second hand so smooth, it looks like an old fashion classroom electric wall clock and ticks so fast it sounds like a toy machine gun. One of the most beautiful things on Lord Marvel is its curved dial making it a classic!

I didn't expect to find my Lord Marvel so soon but thanks to the help of Eva and her friend Ted.....