The automatic movement within the 5606 Lord-Matic - like the full-serviced 1974 Seiko 5606-8031 "Kishiwada Steel Works" dress automatic here, on its original Seiko bracelet - was considered by Seiko to be such an excellent movement it would be subsequently re-worked and placed within Seiko's legendary (and quite accurate) Grand Seiko’s.
 
Why do we call this the Seiko, "Kishiwada Steel Works?"  
 
The Kanji Japanese inscriptions on the case back indicate this Seiko Lord Matic was awarded by the Japanese company, Kishiwada Equipment Industry (now known as Kishiwada Steel Works), to a loyal employee as a reward for 20 years of service.
 
Osaka Prefecture, Japan-based Kishiwada Steel is a steel manufacturer that utilizes electric furnaces to produce steel re-enforcement bars utilized in steel-reinforced concrete in the construction of high-rise buildings.
 
Founded in 1956, Kishiwada was the first in the world to introduce electric furnaces – known as "EcoArc" – which utilizes recycled steel materials with high-efficiency production processes to strengthen steel re-bar products.  In 1971, the plant began operating using its first electric arc furnace, with additional furnaces coming online subsequently in 1980 and 2001.
 
Kishiwada Steel’s state-of-the-art EcoArc electric furnace recycles scrap steel with less energy and without polluting the environment, regenerating it into new steel materials.  Via its EcoArc furnaces in “groundbreaking steelmaking” facilities, Kishiwada asserts its manufacturing process utilizes cutting-edge environmentally friendly technology to significantly reduce dioxin emissions and also save energy via automation.

Reinforced steel rebar supplied through Kishiwada’s traditional integrated production system is then processed by Kishi Steel Processing (a subordinate Kishiwada company) into welded closed hoop bars to meet the diverse needs of construction sites.  You can watch a YouTube video of the process here, with English subtitles. 

As the industry's top manufacturer in contemporary times, Kishiwada Steel has 250 employees with $357 million USD in sales.  As Kishiwada matured into the internet era, it pioneered the Internet of Things (IoT) to build a “just-in-time” steel delivery system; however, a fire accident at the plant in January 2023 resulted in temporarily suspending the operations at the plant, coming back online in April.
 
Regardless, per the CEO, “Our mission is to continue to supply high-quality products to meet the needs of buildings that are becoming increasingly taller and have more diverse designs.”
 
The modern city of Kishiwada has been settled since ancient times and has numerous kofun burial mounds. During the Nanboku-chō period, Kusunoki Masahige assigned his general Wada Haruji to govern an area called "Kishi" in Izumi Province in 1337.  
 
The settlement developed into a castle town during the Sengoku period, as it occupied a very strategic location, approximately half way in-between the cities of Osaka and Wakayama and just south of the port of Sakai.  Under the Tokugawa shogunate, the city was the center of Kishiwada Domain, which was ruled by the Okabe clan from 1640 to the Meiji Restoration.
 
Seiko's Lord Matic finds its genesis in the Lord Marvel (first made in 1956), with the LM series eventually positioned beneath the King Seiko, but with a very sophisticated new automatic movement and high quality case design and finishing.  By 1968 , the LM line had greatly increased in popularity and its movement, the 5606, became one of the most ubiquitous Seiko mechanical movements of the time - the 5606 also formed the basis of higher beat variants fitted to many of the automatic King Seiko and Grand Seiko models of the early to mid 1970’s.
 
Seiko’s Lord Matic’s were produced at the middle of their lineup, price wise, between 1968 and produced through the 1970’s.  Of unique note, not only does the Lord Matic 5606 have a hacking feature, it can be wound via both its automatic movement and by hand. 
 
This Seiko 5606 comes on its original stainless-steel Seiko LM-signed bracelet, and with nylon strap, springbar tool, and rugged travel case.