The perfect dress piece...for me

I said something once to myself. It was along the lines of "no more Seiko for a while..." That was a lie. It holds true, for me at least, that the first experience with a mechanical watch continues to be a big influence on me. In my case that was Seiko, and so I'm back at it.

This time however I jumped into my first ever vintage piece. Well, technically not the first ever, I tried a few Vostoks a couple years ago, but I consider those more so "old watches" not quite "vintage". If you find my descriptions offensive, confusing, or frustrating, than welcome to the watch enthusiast world! But back to this little piece I recently bought...a vintage High Beat Lord Marvel, and it is a beauty:

I've been very apprehensive about buying vintage pieces for a long time. I'm just weary about old movements and fake parts. I know there's ways to protect oneself from these issues, but I just don't have the patience I suppose. This being my first, I did the obvious: trusted some random stranger on Instagram! Ok, maybe not that strange, they did come recommended by @Max in one of his videos and I did "buy the seller" just like @Porthole and @Aurelian told me to. The seller answered all my questions and to be fair they have a good bit of inventory and past sales. Here is the ad pic:

In case you're wondering, their tag is @kingseiko96 on Instagram. Don't follow them if you like vintage and Seiko, their posts are pretty effective at separating enthusiasts from their money it seems. A neat part of buying from this seller was they even gave me proof of servicing with my watch.

I didn't even know about Lord Marvel until I saw this watch and started reading about it. I was originally in the market for a new Grand Seiko dress watch, but when I saw this one, and realized it had a high beat movement, I said maybe I don't need a new $6k dress watch. This was a much friendlier $500.

This particular piece is supposedly from 1970 with a 5740C movement. I have not verified the year to be honest. But I did take a pic of the movement, and it looks great!

I changed the strap right off the bat. I always liked the combo of champagne dial with brown strap. It really does suit what I was going for. The 35mm size looks perfect, I was a bit worried at first, but now I think that's the best size for field and dress watches.

The dial on this too is timeless. Nothing but class and even the old Suwa factory seal at the bottom. So technically the same line Grand Seikos were made in? In any case, the condition is excellent, and the fact it has no-date makes it the perfect dress watch IMO.

Truthfully I could've sprung for a vintage Omega or Grand Seiko. But this Lord Elgin I feel is pretty unique. It was also apparently the first high beat movement from Seiko. So this is doing the trick for me. I don't wear dress pieces often so I'm not too scared of it needing another service any time soon. It really scratched the itch. And yes, it's yet another Seiko in my collection, but it's just a fact, I'm a fanboy.

Another bridge crossed. Now back to dive watches hahaha!