I’ve got an Omega watch and I love it. I’ve had it for about 13-14 years and I’ve only had to change the battery once. I wear it all the time. Like you said, it’s classic, elegant, and beautiful.
I’ll also throw in a vote for any good-quality cookwear. I spent several years buying cheap crap and ruining it and buying new stuff over and over. Now I have some Circulon and I just LOVE it. Just the way it feels when you pick it up…
My replica longsword and antique rapier.
The longsword is a replica of a 1400’s museum piece forged by one of the masterful swordsmiths in the renowned workshops of Passau, in southern Germany. The blade was tempered for maximum flexibility and hardness, and also hand-ground and finished to a high satin finish and sharpened like the original piece. The sword is a joy to heft and wield. The overall length is 47 inches and the point of balance is about 3.5 inches from the crossbar.
My antique rapier is a 16th century italian piece. The blade is genuine, and proudly bears some nicks and other signs of use. The hilt is a replica I had made and it’s of a stylish full spanish cup design.
I almost forgot Pelican cases Back when I bought my first one the guarantee was
They have changed the wording, but not the quality.
My replica longsword and antique rapier.
The longsword is a replica of a 1400’s museum piece forged by one of the masterful swordsmiths in the renowned workshops of Passau, in southern Germany. The blade was tempered for maximum flexibility and hardness, and also hand-ground and finished to a high satin finish and sharpened like the original piece. The sword is a joy to heft and wield. The overall length is 47 inches and the point of balance is about 3.5 inches from the crossbar. It weighs in at 3.2 lbs.
My antique rapier is a 16th century italian piece. The blade is genuine, and proudly bears some nicks and other signs of use. The hilt is a replica I had made and it’s of a stylish full spanish cup design.
Absolutely; I’ve been using a set of them for about four years now and they’re terrific.
I’ll second Mag-Lites and Leatherman tools, and I’ll cast a vote for my Olympus OM-G. I got it for a song, and it continually impresses me with its responsiveness and photo quality.
Oh, and my Rickenbacker 620 guitar.
My vote goes to my "pet’ pliers. They’re probably well over sixty years old. Mom said they were around as long as she could remember. I’ve used them for fancy wire working, holding hot items, crafts - anything you can think of, plus a few!
There are no markings at all on them. The colour is sort of pewter and they’re about 6-7 inches long, needlenosed.
I’l also vote for Maglite. My tiny keychain model has been through pocket hell for the last seven years and aside from a little loss of colour, it’s as good as new.
Everyone loves the Gooney Bird, right?
Did you see the article in Smithsonian a few years ago? One of the pilots flying DC-3s to supply the Chinese insurrectionists was caught dead to rights by a Zero, and he pulled a snap roll. (A maneuver difficult in many fighters, and rather stressful on the airframe, too.) The pilot of the Zero was apparantly so astonished a cargo plane could do that, he broke off the engagement.
Oh man. What a cool thread idea.
Let’s see, for this musician type:
Pioneer stereo equipment. Always has the sound I like, and most of their products are built like tanks.
All Sennheiser audio equipment. I have these headphones, these earbuds for my iPod, and this microphone. All are stunning in their consistency and performance.
as much as I’m sure I’ll be disagreed with, I have to mention Converse All-Star sneakers. Classic. I’ve been wearing them since high school, and now I have 11 pairs.
Ha! I had a housemate who developed an intimate relationship with his HP48GX. He developed an entire library of programs for it, and prided himself on making it do any number of things that calculators simply aren’t supposed to do. He could hold forth on the subject of the HP48GX’s many notable qualities for hours. And he did. One year, for his birthday, his girlfriend gave him an army surplus jacket with a little embroidered patch that says “HP48GX GEEK” in discreet lettering.
I think he loves that jacket nearly as much as the calculator. 
(Note: To give you an idea of what earned him the rep of “HP48GX GEEK”, I’m not talking about loading elaborate math functions into it – he had a modem hooked up to that damned thing and used it to connect to a server-side CLI-based Open-Napster client he had set up on a FreeBSD box at home, so anywhere that he had access to a land-line, he could search for music and have it downloaded to his PC. Through the medium of his calculator. Amongst other equally improbable things.)
I’m putting in a third vote for Coach bags.
Well made, solid wood furniture says quality forcefully, yet quietly. I have a beautiful antique walnut desk in my room that made the rest of my veneered/finished furniture look like crap the second we carried it in. And it’s impossible to truly replicate the patina age gives wood.
Can I sneak in a second reply?
Concorde.
Never flew on her - never will now 
- but I used to live near Heathrow and she flew over my house at 6pm every day. Just beautiful.
R.I.P.
FYI, Mag-lites are decent for the price, but if you’re willing to pay more (significantly more, admittedly), there’s waaaay better stuff out there. Check the links in my first post in this thread.
Having seen the other options, there’s no way I’ll buy a Mag-lite again if I can help it.
I’d rather lust for Tina Turner or Jenna Jameson, but whatever floats your boat I guess. 
Seconded. How old is it, exactly? Mine was made in 1992.
Well, at least my lust for an OED is something that I could have. 
I’m not sure, but it came with a Pyrex mixing bowl, as well as the stainless bowl, and according to KitchenAid that puts it at least to the 60’s.
Deary me, what would you do without the Straight Dope? May I present the Compact Oxford English Dictionary—all the wealth of scholarship found in the original edition in just one volume, and at a fraction of the price? $405 and it’s yours–along w/ the OUP catalogs you’ll occassionally get, which always make interesting browsing.
js_africanus, thanks for the suggestion. I am aware of the compact OED, and even the CD-ROM version of the OED, too. (At $295, an even better deal than the Compact OED.)
My desire for the full OED is not entirely rational. I admit it. <grinning> I just want the fun of having the 20 volume set sitting somewhere.
Holy Parallel universe, Batman! My father got the entire OED for graduation and my Mom’s avocado Kitchenaid finally died after about 30 years. Both mainstains of my life. I remember Mom and Pop once stumbling upstairs, giggling and crawling over to the OED, racing to see who was right about the spelling of “newel post”. (I know now that they were tipsy from a party but at the time it was a thrill to see them so uncharacteristicallty goofy and I always associate that with the OED!) And my Mom’s mixer made up many a batch of Xmas cookies and French silk chocolate pies.
Estwing hammers send a thrill right through me.
Dansko clogs.
That new Bentley with about a bazillion hp. In a nice silver color.
I wear an Eddie Bauer wrist watch that I bought on clearance when I was in 7th grade. I am now 26. This watch is the best $40 investment I ever made. I feed it the very occasional new battery and new leather band. It gives me the accurate time in both 12 and 24 hour format. What more could I ask from it.
Other items on my list:
Every Sony product I have owned
Avid Newscutter
Final Cut Pro
Every Panasonic product I have owned
Danish Modern furniture
