Good points! Renderings are easily changed in color, etc. The actual products might even vary from the renderings!
Interesting story re: that catalog number!
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Looks like it still have the gear shaped cap (source https://old.reddit.com/r/mechanicalpencils/comments/1lmgvhr/it_came/)
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I have the old one and plan to get the new one too 
You can see it on woodcased colour pencils; they often have the indentical grain on the tip. – If I remember correctly, there was once a Faber-Castell catalogue in which some colored pencils not only had the same grain, but also the same item number. Copy & paste gone too far 
I think that the real photos also contribute to the appeal of the old “Stationery Magazine“, for example.
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Personally, I purchased it from Amazon Japan; it was the cheapest option and shipped the fastest. I’ve also been in contact with the Amazon seller and know the release dates for the 0.3mm but also the Black Special Edition.
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The manufacturer has announced the following:
- 925 85-05 (0.5 mm): Scheduled for release in late June 2025 (already released; the next production run is planned for around September–October 2025)
- 925 85-03 (0.3 mm): Currently being prepared for release in late July 2025
- 925 85-05B Limited Matte Black Model: Currently being prepared for release around October 2025
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I only translated the summary part of this video.
Good points about the Staedtler REG:
- Smooth writing experience
- Beautiful design
- Well-balanced overall
- Good weight distribution
- Has a fun, nostalgic mechanism
- Nice to see that the points people were concerned about have been improved in this reissue
Concerns:
- The knurled grip could have a bit more texture because it’s a little too smooth and fingers can slip.
That’s all they mentioned as a downside — so the comments aren’t that deep overall.
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I ran the Japanese lettering (in the annotated image) through OCR, then translated it. Here’s the result:
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Yes, I think the video does a pretty good job, despite the annoying AI voice. The diagram indicates that the inner mechanism has been dampened a bit to minimize rattling noises. And the video shows how there’s less side-to-side movement (demonstrated by pushing the eraser on the side). It’s also good to know that the regulator works quietly, unlike the original which makes a little bit of a scraping noise.
The original knurling wasn’t that aggressive to begin with, so if it’s smoother… yeah, that’s a bit of a bother. I wonder if the screw threads are compatible… so you could swap parts to put the more aggressive knurling on the new version.
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I’ve been told that the matte black model will be available in September of 2025.
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You peeps are killing me. I said the last one was the last one!
Put in my order on Amazon.jp this morning. Very reasonable shipping to the U.S.
Last one? Please!!
cheers,
elliot
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Never say “last.” Can you post the link on Amazon.jp? Thanks!
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So cool that you translated this! I saw it in Japanese but could not read it. Seems like a process to work that lettering (which was an image) through to English text. Well done and thank you!
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You are welcome.
I’ll give you the low-down on how I did it:
- Using an image editor, copy/paste all of the text part of the image into another image with each segment of text on a separate line.
- Save the new image
- Upload the image to i2OCR - Free Online Japanese OCR
- Use their translate feature to convert image to actual text.
- Proof the translation to be sure it was done right. Sometimes you need to break out a string of text separately for better translation.
- Using the translated text, apply to Google Translate
- Copy that content into an image editor for creating new annotations. But first, block out the original language annotations to then overlay the new English ones.
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Thanks for those details. Just curious: what image editor did you use? Clearly that online Japanese OCR did the trick, and then some very nice graphic design skills to create new English annotations. The end result looked totally professional. I completely understand the process, but I don’t have the experience with those tools or the image editor. I very much thank you as I’ve gotten very interested in this pencil, so those details Staedtler decided to point out are quite interesting for all of us into mechpens. It’s really too bad that they don’t put much effort towards the USA market, as this new pencil is not even on their site nor anything even like it. I guess they focus much more on the Japanese market (also Hong Kong and South Korea) where there is much more interest in high-end items.
I have an old copy of the last version of Adobe Photoshop before it went on-line subscription based. It’s painfully old in a number of respects, but for certain basics it still gets the job done.
You could use a free image editor to do the same. The only “magic” is layers. That’s when you’re working on an image and you create new layers that positionally can overlay others. The ability to do that plus move them around before committing is key.
Market is everything. Staedtler just didn’t see a US market priority due to anticipated sales volumes.
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This is the listing I purchased from. In fact, it’s 150 yen off compared to when I bought it (damn!).
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Appreciate this info! Having an old working copy of PS is a good thing. It turned into a very expensive sub-based software. Maybe I can find an old copy that will still work? Although I’m primarily a writer, I need to devote some time to learning PS and maybe Illustrator. Would be handy to know. Thanks for info re: layers.
Yes it’s about the market. You’re right. Most Americans just not interested in paying extra for higher-end items like these. At least we can get them from Japan and other places, and there are some Japanese-themed stationery stores out there that cater to a higher end clientele and carry some nicer stuff.
Thanks very much!! I’ve found that using the translate function within Firefox (my browser of choice) works fairly well to translate a lot of the Japanese into English. I have found that Bundoki.com is a very good site and they will correspond with you in English to complete a transaction. Ryuji is very nice and helpful! The best part is that they can handle the purchase plus the shipping, so no proxy buying needed. Simpler that way. I’m very excited as my 925 85-05 is on its way to me from Japan as we speak.
Speaking of image editors: I can highly recommend the Affinity appilcations. What they offer is incredible – the range of functions, ease of use and price are unbeatable. No subscription, no cloud solution, unlimited installations on all own devices, extensive compatibility with the PSD format, many free updates etc. For those coming from Adobe Photoshop some functions in Affinity Photo take some getting used to but others are almost identical, i. e. many shortcuts. On top of that, there are always offers where the software is even cheaper than it already is.
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