Another day with wheels (and so on).
A customer left me a Reynolds Assault tubeless rear wheel.
They do use the shoe brake regularly,
but the gap between the rim and shoe isn't tightened up,
and it's not a direct mount brake system either.
The customer also has
a rear wheel with spokes that I built previously,
so they already know what it would be like
if I were to rebuild this one.
Reynolds straight-spoke hub, 24H,
all-black Aero Comp 4-cross build, but
the looseness on the non-drive side isn't just because of the radial lacing—
I suspect the rim has shifted toward the drive side
（there should be adjustment room on the non-drive side）, so I checked
There was no centering offset.
In other words, there's basically nothing to be done about it.
If I want to increase tension while maintaining center,
I'd have to tighten both sides,
but since the rim's lateral movement per nipple rotation
is greater on the non-drive side,
if the drive side is already at the limit, tightening the non-drive side is practically impossible.
So I rebuilt it.
Regardless of whether there was centering offset before the rebuild,
rebuilding was a foregone conclusion anyway.
With Reynolds rear wheels,
I've tried the half-measure of attempting to tighten them more in the past,
but it barely made any difference,
so I'd end up rebuilding anyway. This has happened many times before.
It was mostly my own preference rather than the customer's wish,
but it pretty much always ends up being double work.
The hub is a Novatec 482SL that the customer brought in,
essentially equivalent to an Evolite hub—it's the OEM source.
Black semi-comp 4-cross build with spokes and black aluminum nipples.
The rebuild before also had black aluminum nipples
that could be turned from the outer edge, but I didn't reuse those.
This is unrelated to the wheel,
but the customer who brought this wheel
was wearing a wristwatch that I also own,
so I'm posting it here.
The model number is SARZ005,
and while the dial says "Seiko 5 Sports,"
it's not a gray-market import of an overseas Seiko 5,
but rather a model within the "Mechanical" brand, which is one of Seiko's Japanese domestic brands,
bearing the Seiko 5 logo. Confusing stuff.
Separately, a brand called "5 Sports" came out recently,
and that one has a redesigned logo.
Actually, the "Mechanical" brand doesn't exist anymore.
In the affordable mechanical watch segment,
dress watches are now under the "Presage" brand,
and sport models are under the "5 Sports" brand.
Overseas Seiko 5 models often use the 7S26 movement,
which is a 7S-series with date and day display,
but it lacks a hack function（the seconds hand stops when you pull the crown）
and has no manual winding capability.
The model SARZ005 in the image above uses the 4R36 movement,
which is a 4R-series with date and day display.
The identification number linked to the movement
（the one on the caseback）is 4R36-00E0.
The 4R series has a hack function and manual winding capability.
Overseas Seiko 5 models almost always have the day display's second language
（with English as the first）set to either Arabic or Spanish
（Spanish not for Spain but for Central and South American markets）,
but on this model, the day display's second language is Japanese.
The hand-winding feel of a Tudor
（recently started formal distribution in Japan,
though the official romanization is "Tuder"）
in the 200,000–300,000 yen range is similar to
the 100,000 yen-range mechanical watches from Longines or Hamilton—
it has that crunchy, weighty feel.
Among the watches I own, Rado and Ball watches are much the same.
Not that there's anything wrong with that,
but it makes you realize
"ah, this must be using a generic, off-the-shelf movement."
By comparison, the hand-winding feel of the 4R series
has a lighter, crisper sound and weight,
and it's actually similar to that of a Rolex.
↑I really hesitated writing this,
but I actually compared the hand-winding feel just now.
It's terrifying that something like this goes for 40,000–50,000 yen.
I bought the SARZ005 drawn to the Japanese day display and the Seiko 5 logo,
but as a practical date-only watch within "Mechanical,"
the SARB033 would have been the better choice（past tense）.
It comes with the 6R15 movement from the 6R series,
which is mainly used in the higher-end "Brightz" brand,
and had an incredible retail price of 45,000 yen,
but unfortunately it's been discontinued. You might still be able to get one if you're lucky.
For reference, the "Brightz" model SDGM003 has a similar appearance to the SARB033
and also uses the 6R15,
but that one had a retail price of 90,000 yen（also discontinued）.
A customer left me a Reynolds Assault tubeless rear wheel.
They do use the shoe brake regularly,
but the gap between the rim and shoe isn't tightened up,
and it's not a direct mount brake system either.
The customer also has
a rear wheel with spokes that I built previously,
so they already know what it would be like
if I were to rebuild this one.
Reynolds straight-spoke hub, 24H,
all-black Aero Comp 4-cross build, but
the looseness on the non-drive side isn't just because of the radial lacing—
I suspect the rim has shifted toward the drive side
（there should be adjustment room on the non-drive side）, so I checked
There was no centering offset.
In other words, there's basically nothing to be done about it.
If I want to increase tension while maintaining center,
I'd have to tighten both sides,
but since the rim's lateral movement per nipple rotation
is greater on the non-drive side,
if the drive side is already at the limit, tightening the non-drive side is practically impossible.
So I rebuilt it.
Regardless of whether there was centering offset before the rebuild,
rebuilding was a foregone conclusion anyway.
With Reynolds rear wheels,
I've tried the half-measure of attempting to tighten them more in the past,
but it barely made any difference,
so I'd end up rebuilding anyway. This has happened many times before.
It was mostly my own preference rather than the customer's wish,
but it pretty much always ends up being double work.
The hub is a Novatec 482SL that the customer brought in,
essentially equivalent to an Evolite hub—it's the OEM source.
Black semi-comp 4-cross build with spokes and black aluminum nipples.
The rebuild before also had black aluminum nipples
that could be turned from the outer edge, but I didn't reuse those.
This is unrelated to the wheel,
but the customer who brought this wheel
was wearing a wristwatch that I also own,
so I'm posting it here.
The model number is SARZ005,
and while the dial says "Seiko 5 Sports,"
it's not a gray-market import of an overseas Seiko 5,
but rather a model within the "Mechanical" brand, which is one of Seiko's Japanese domestic brands,
bearing the Seiko 5 logo. Confusing stuff.
Separately, a brand called "5 Sports" came out recently,
and that one has a redesigned logo.
Actually, the "Mechanical" brand doesn't exist anymore.
In the affordable mechanical watch segment,
dress watches are now under the "Presage" brand,
and sport models are under the "5 Sports" brand.
Overseas Seiko 5 models often use the 7S26 movement,
which is a 7S-series with date and day display,
but it lacks a hack function（the seconds hand stops when you pull the crown）
and has no manual winding capability.
The model SARZ005 in the image above uses the 4R36 movement,
which is a 4R-series with date and day display.
The identification number linked to the movement
（the one on the caseback）is 4R36-00E0.
The 4R series has a hack function and manual winding capability.
Overseas Seiko 5 models almost always have the day display's second language
（with English as the first）set to either Arabic or Spanish
（Spanish not for Spain but for Central and South American markets）,
but on this model, the day display's second language is Japanese.
The hand-winding feel of a Tudor
（recently started formal distribution in Japan,
though the official romanization is "Tuder"）
in the 200,000–300,000 yen range is similar to
the 100,000 yen-range mechanical watches from Longines or Hamilton—
it has that crunchy, weighty feel.
Among the watches I own, Rado and Ball watches are much the same.
Not that there's anything wrong with that,
but it makes you realize
"ah, this must be using a generic, off-the-shelf movement."
By comparison, the hand-winding feel of the 4R series
has a lighter, crisper sound and weight,
and it's actually similar to that of a Rolex.
↑I really hesitated writing this,
but I actually compared the hand-winding feel just now.
It's terrifying that something like this goes for 40,000–50,000 yen.
I bought the SARZ005 drawn to the Japanese day display and the Seiko 5 logo,
but as a practical date-only watch within "Mechanical,"
the SARB033 would have been the better choice（past tense）.
It comes with the 6R15 movement from the 6R series,
which is mainly used in the higher-end "Brightz" brand,
and had an incredible retail price of 45,000 yen,
but unfortunately it's been discontinued. You might still be able to get one if you're lucky.
For reference, the "Brightz" model SDGM003 has a similar appearance to the SARB033
and also uses the 6R15,
but that one had a retail price of 90,000 yen（also discontinued）.