A Look Back at the ‘Lord’ Seiko Collection
Two Seiko ‘56LMs’ and a Seiko Lord Quartz, the Lord Quartz is available for sale here.
Seiko has released many different lines of watches through their various sub-brands over the years, from Pulsar to Grand Seiko and beyond. One of those lines that often flies under the radar – not at all deservingly – is the ‘Lord’ one. Seiko’s Lord Marvel, Lord Matic, Lord Quartz and others are all part of what I’ll call the ‘upper middle’ selection of Seikos; positioned right under the Grand and King Seiko. Although they’re not always fully sub-brands like Grand and King Seiko, the Lord designation has followed Seiko throughout its history. ‘Lords’ have always lived in the shadow of the other two more prominent lines; a blessing for interested collectors who can find good condition pieces at great prices, but a shame nonetheless as there really is a lot of good.
Our first stop on the Seiko Lord line will be the Lord Matic – my favourite and not solely because I own one. The Lord Matic line was released in the late 1960s and produced well into the 1970s. Now, of the Lord Matic – mine and a very popular one at that is the 5606 movement. Yet to earn a cool-sounding nickname like the 56KS or 56GS, the ‘56LM’ is in fact a derivative of the other two. The Tudor to their Rolex. That’s right, my humble $300 Lord Matic shares DNA with the likes of the King Seiko Chronometer! That’s royalty, noble blood! When Daini, for the first time ever, produced a King Seiko – it also used the ’56’ movement that it had used in Grand Seiko. Grand Seiko, for example, used the 5645 (date) or 5646 (day/date); while King Seiko used the 5625 (date) or 5626 (day/date) for their chronometer and other models. The Lord Matic instead used the 5606 and yes, there is also a somewhat elusive 5605 with no day. This is also part of why I love my own Lord Matic – as it satisfies my desire for a ‘high-end’ mechanical Seiko…to an extent. Now, unfortunately for us, the Lord Matic does not have any cool gold medallion on its caseback or signed crowns, it does, however, have a signed clasp – “Seiko LM” it (should) read. Another admirable aspect of Lord Matic is its strict adherence to Seiko’s Grammar of Design. This, the sleek edges of the case, and the surprisingly decent bracelet (solid links), make the watch complete.
My 1969 Seiko Lord Matic 5606-7000
So yes, the Lord Matic is like a baby King Seiko or Grand Seiko in my eyes, a first step towards the upper echelons of vintage Seiko.
Along with the Lord Matic there is also the Lord Matic Special, the Daini version oft using the 5206 and 5216 movements. These ’52’ movements were the basis for King Seiko’s own 52KS which also came to be in the early 1970s – the last of the King Seikos. I must add that in my opinion the ‘56LM’ is superior to the ‘52LM’ – although I might be biased (and jealous of the early cursive ‘Special’ font).
On the quartz side there’s also some interesting back story as the early Seiko quartz – the QT, QR, and QZ – was eventually rebranded to ‘match’ the mechanical selection in the mid-1970s. These early quartz movements evolved into the Grand, King, and Lord Quartz lines in the latter half of the 1970s. The QT and QR largely formed the basis of the movements for the three new quartz watch models (Grand, King, and Lord) and some QZ movements were adopted by the new Type II – namely the 0903 which is also seen in export Seiko SQ models. A nice reminder of the Seiko hierarchy and the comfortable position of the Lord collection even as we cross over to early Seiko quartz.
1978 Seiko Lord Quartz 7853-7010 available for sale here.
Going back even further into Seiko history, back before the time of the first Grand Seiko, we get to the first Lord Seiko…In the 1950s, as Seiko wanted to show just how accurate its mechanical wristwatches could be, it developed the Seiko Marvel, produced in 1956. And so, as a follow up to the Marvel, they made the Lord Marvel, which became Seiko’s flagship when it began production in 1958. This means that you could in fact (jokingly) take everything I said above about the Grand and King Seiko hierarchy and turn it on its head! The Lord Marvel was actually the predecessor to the first Grand Seiko released in 1960. You could say this means that the Lord Marvel is like the Grand Seiko’s grandfather! And the Lord Matic…well I’ll let you decide how it fits into the family yourself.
There is one other Lord worth mentioning in this short article and that is the 5740, Hi-Beat Lord Marvel. As evidenced on the dial, this was a Seiko that had a 36,000 bph rate. And Seiko released it shortly after the release of the Girard-Perregaux Gyromatic, as Seiko’s own answer to their hi-beat movement.
The ‘LM5740’ - Seiko Lord Marvel 36000 5740-8000/ Credit: Monochrome Watches
So, given this background on the Lord Seiko line, why they aren’t more popular with respect to Grand and King Seiko is a bit of a mystery to me. Obviously, they were meant to be technically inferior, but from a collector’s perspective the uniqueness of the Lord along with the history and achievements of the collection make it all the more desirable. Today the Lord still exists, although mostly in the form of bulky chronographs like the ref. SRW019P1. My bet is that as Grand Seiko becomes more popular in the pre-owned and new market, competing with the likes of Rolex and Omega, that interest will ‘trickle down’ affecting (increasing) the demand for all kinds of Seikos including the ‘Lords’. From Lord Marvel to Lord Quartz and beyond.
By: Andres Ibarguen
Read more:
“Part 1 – Long-Lasting Precision.” Grand Seiko, https://www.grand-seiko.com/ca-en/special/10stories/vol1/1/.
McNeill, Christoph. “Affordable Vintage: Seiko Lord Marvel 5740-8000 (LM5740) Hi-Beat.” Worn and Wound, July 28th, 2016, https://wornandwound.com/affordable-vintage-seiko-lord-marvel-5740-8000-lm5740-hi-beat/.
See various Seiko catalogues from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s.
A great thread on early Seiko Quartz mentioning the Lord Quartz: https://www.watchiwant.com/showthread.php?tid=395