This thread is meant to as a guide to buy a Seiko Lord Marvel. There are many fakes out there. As I don't posses all the wisdom and knowledge, please ad you knowledge to this thread, making it a useful buyers guide for others. It's an iconic watch, with great design and performance.
The life of the 5740-8000 began in early 1966, when the first model came around. These models have the low-beat 5740B mounted, and the dial is also a bit different from the later 36K version. Note the font under Seiko, in handwritten style. The indexes are silver or gold, no black top. For the hands it is the same and should be dauphine shape. The movement is ticking at 19800 beats and has hacking. The caseback has the Seahorse on it's back. The Seahorse caseback was discontinued in december 1966. The cases were available in Stainless Steel or SGP (Solid Gold Plated). There were only for versions: 2 SS-versions and 2 SGP-versions. Each with one straight indexes and one numeral (arabic) indexes.
Here are the versions out of my own collection:
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In December 1966 came the new 5740C movement, which is a real high beat movement, ticking at 36000 beat, and for this movement the Lord Marvel is famous for.
It does not feature hacking. There are some 5740C from November 1966 serial. The 5740-8000 was build until halfway 1978.
With the change of movement, the dials were altered. The same for the hands, but still dauphine shape. There were complaints about the visibility of the silver hands in sunny light. The starburst on the older model was so bright, it was hard to read the time of the watch. So they added a black topping on the indexes, and black paint in the center of the minute and hour hands. They also added a linen dial for the numeral dials. The caseback changed from the Seahorse to the Horseshoe caseback. Later in the 70's, the caseback changed again to a plain caseback (I believe that was 1974).
There are rumours, some 36K versions do have the Seahorse caseback. There could be early ones, but to my knowledge none after December 1966.
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The watches above come from my own collection, with exemption of the SS Numeral (arabic), which picture I took from internet (as I don't have this version in my collection yet...)
The early, low beat, Lord Marvel do not have a Suwa symbol on the watch, not on the dial, not on the caseback. The 36K version does have a Suwa logo on the dial. All thought it's life this logo on the dial. On the caseback, that is another story. It differs from the one of the dial. This is important, because I've seen some fake Lord Marvels with the wrong Suwa logo on it.
These are the 3 different casebacks:
The Seahorse (until May 1967). You can see the relief on the engraved fonts and seahorse. There are fakes with lasered casebacks, so be aware! These casebacks are very rough, caused by the burning of the laser. Often you can see the old stamping beneath the lasered logo.
![Image]()
In June 1967 the Horseshoe caseback replaced the Seahorse caseback. Until 1969 it was marked Waterproof, from 1969 is is marked Water Resistant (due to new regulations about water resistant).
![Image]()
![Image]()
And then in 1974 it changed again for the plain caseback, but they also used the Horseshoe casebacks for several years. It is not clear at this moment, when they stopped using the Horseshoe back...
![Image]()
The dials were only in white/silver or white/silver linen of gold linen. Any other color is at least redial or fake!
The Seiko Lord marvel 5740-8000 was build from 1966 until 1978, when it was discontinued.
There were 2 other watches to have this 5740C movement, these are pocket watches. The model numbers for these watches are 5740-0080 and 5740-8010.
![Image]()
![Image]()
The gold one is the 5740-0080 (also available in SS and SGP) And silver with black dial is the 5740-8010. The case is made of 885 silver.
There were also previous versions of the Lord Marvel as wristwatches in the 5740-series. (5740-0010 and 5740-1990) But that is for another post...
The life of the 5740-8000 began in early 1966, when the first model came around. These models have the low-beat 5740B mounted, and the dial is also a bit different from the later 36K version. Note the font under Seiko, in handwritten style. The indexes are silver or gold, no black top. For the hands it is the same and should be dauphine shape. The movement is ticking at 19800 beats and has hacking. The caseback has the Seahorse on it's back. The Seahorse caseback was discontinued in december 1966. The cases were available in Stainless Steel or SGP (Solid Gold Plated). There were only for versions: 2 SS-versions and 2 SGP-versions. Each with one straight indexes and one numeral (arabic) indexes.
Here are the versions out of my own collection:
In December 1966 came the new 5740C movement, which is a real high beat movement, ticking at 36000 beat, and for this movement the Lord Marvel is famous for.
It does not feature hacking. There are some 5740C from November 1966 serial. The 5740-8000 was build until halfway 1978.
With the change of movement, the dials were altered. The same for the hands, but still dauphine shape. There were complaints about the visibility of the silver hands in sunny light. The starburst on the older model was so bright, it was hard to read the time of the watch. So they added a black topping on the indexes, and black paint in the center of the minute and hour hands. They also added a linen dial for the numeral dials. The caseback changed from the Seahorse to the Horseshoe caseback. Later in the 70's, the caseback changed again to a plain caseback (I believe that was 1974).
There are rumours, some 36K versions do have the Seahorse caseback. There could be early ones, but to my knowledge none after December 1966.
The watches above come from my own collection, with exemption of the SS Numeral (arabic), which picture I took from internet (as I don't have this version in my collection yet...)
The early, low beat, Lord Marvel do not have a Suwa symbol on the watch, not on the dial, not on the caseback. The 36K version does have a Suwa logo on the dial. All thought it's life this logo on the dial. On the caseback, that is another story. It differs from the one of the dial. This is important, because I've seen some fake Lord Marvels with the wrong Suwa logo on it.
These are the 3 different casebacks:
The Seahorse (until May 1967). You can see the relief on the engraved fonts and seahorse. There are fakes with lasered casebacks, so be aware! These casebacks are very rough, caused by the burning of the laser. Often you can see the old stamping beneath the lasered logo.
In June 1967 the Horseshoe caseback replaced the Seahorse caseback. Until 1969 it was marked Waterproof, from 1969 is is marked Water Resistant (due to new regulations about water resistant).
And then in 1974 it changed again for the plain caseback, but they also used the Horseshoe casebacks for several years. It is not clear at this moment, when they stopped using the Horseshoe back...
The dials were only in white/silver or white/silver linen of gold linen. Any other color is at least redial or fake!
The Seiko Lord marvel 5740-8000 was build from 1966 until 1978, when it was discontinued.
There were 2 other watches to have this 5740C movement, these are pocket watches. The model numbers for these watches are 5740-0080 and 5740-8010.
The gold one is the 5740-0080 (also available in SS and SGP) And silver with black dial is the 5740-8010. The case is made of 885 silver.
There were also previous versions of the Lord Marvel as wristwatches in the 5740-series. (5740-0010 and 5740-1990) But that is for another post...
