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Duchy raspberry jam is the RR of jam⭐️.
Barbour jackets, I’ve got a 15 year old that’s still going strong.
Spiewak jackets (as above)
Marks n sparks jeans and wool jumpers
Clark’s shoes.
Swiss Army knives.
Shimano anything, (SRAM IS SHOITE from experience)
My Purdie’s survived 3 houses decorated multiple time over 18 years until they became ‘not fit for purpose’. On the advice of the Leyland paints bird I know, I bought some of their budget numbers and they are just as good (so far) as the purdies
Christy - towels
Fairy, liquids.
I have a few..
Snapon ratchets= so damn smooth
Fisher space pen(bullet)= old but so smooth and reliable
Dango wallets= built like tanks...
Leatherman signal=..cant seem to break it...and it's just the right tools..
They all top three class in there own right..making them the rr of there category..
If the definition is something which lasts forever, holds its value, has limited functionality, I nominate the Leica M2. Mine is from 1959, ex reporter's camera so fairly battered, still use it regularly. Absolute pleasure to use, even just winding it on is satisfying compared to my other shooter, an 80s Olympus, which in comparison feels like it's been greased with abrasive hand cleaner.
Paired with the collapsible Elmar 50mm f/2.8 from the same year, my digital camera barely gets used.
Sunbeam bicycles started the quality fashion and predated RR, so maybe RR are the Sunbeam of horseless carriages...
Funnily enough I've wondered a few times if there was a web-site to go and search for premium brands for different areas (premium based on quality rather than price). I'm fed up of deciding I want something, going to Amazon and getting confronted with 3000 variations of Chinese tat with fake reviews. I really don't mind paying 5x as much for something built to last rather than made out of plastic flimsier than the packaging it came in.
From the Viz:
RM.
Cletus
Member
Leatherman Wave – RR of multi-tools
Wera – RR of screwdrivers
Anusol – RR of haemorrhoid treatments
agreed with all that, plus Nipex for crunchy tightening things and wire stripping.
Also, RR whilst BMW owned and the Powertrains are BMW (though refined in the UK), the chassis are fully built in the UK. Mini is similar, but a lot of the powertrains are built in the UK as well!
Bahco. The Rolls Royce of adjustable spanners (shifters I should say)
Which items do you use in your life that are considered the quality standard by which all other similar items are judged?
The key words being "quality standard" and "similar items" rather than antiquated status symbols:-
iMac, iPhone, iPad
Naim Audio
Pioneer Kuro plasma TV (although obsolete today)
Goretex
Hulsta furniture
Miele appliances
Dualit Toaster
Nespresso coffee machine (as far as capsule coffee machines go)
Dyson cordless vac (even though the plastic feels like Airfix quality)
Omega Speedmaster "moon watch" (definitely THE benchmark for watches worn on the moon!)
DOXA Sub 300 diving watch
Michelin tyres
Bilstein dampers
Royal Canin dog food (not that I actually eat it myself)
Porsche 911 (but could also be classed as an antiquated status symbol)
Tesla (tricky one this as build quality is a bit iffy, but they are certainly the benchmark EVs)
Dyson are the Rolls-Royce of Hoovers 😀
Being a working class boy from the arse end of nowhere, I can afford nothing that is described as Rolls Royce.
But I'm a hop and a skip on a ferry from the Rolls Royce of mountain ridge walks.
Purdey she was the teenage boys favourite posh totty, only reason to watch the new avengers, she could fight and ride a motorbike and was fit
My Sennheiser headphones.
About the only "nice thing" I own these days, everything is destroyed by the kids or mrsm.
Ripeur 2 safety gloves - the Rolls Royce of gloves for handling hawthorn, blackthorn, bramble, barbed wire and all manner of sharp pointy stabby stuff
Garmin - the RR of software glitches.
Charmin - the RR of bog roll.
Hmm, possibly my oboe (HowarthXL) or my ATC speakers, though users of other types would undoubtedly disagree.
No mention of Nottinghams finest - Brough Superior motorcycles?
When it comes to shelves
For what they are, bent and painted steel, aluminium extruded lengths of mounting rails etc.. the price is mental. We have it in three different rooms in the house, and about to put some up in a fourth.
When you pay for it you think ‘what am I doing?’ Then when it arrives you think ‘I’m glad I paid that much’.
The best thing is actually having someone design it, and you can phone them up and talk about. I was worried about the flatness of the wall for my first installation, after I emailed, someone rang me, and we sorted the problem by speaking to each other! Amazing!
Oh well, designed by Dieter Rams. Take my money.
I swither on these, but...
Macadamia nuts are the Rolls-Royce of nuts, and butter beans (good ones, cooked to creamy perfection in something flavoursome) are the Rolls-Royce of pulses.
I'd definitely give a different answer this time next week.
Fender Telecaster. The first plank guitar and still a reference.
Wera – RR of screwdrivers
Anusol – RR of haemorrhoid treatments
Together, the RR of pile-drivers.
Fisher space pen(bullet)= old but so smooth and reliable
Good shout, that. Good customer service too, I have one that must be 20 years old now, it went faulty in that the outer casing came away from the barrel and basically fell apart when you took the cap off. Sent it back to Fischer and they actually went to the bother of repairing it. A replacement would have been good, but if it had sentimental value to me then that would have been really awesome.
General Electric Aviation Engines.
😀
Hilti , the RR of power tools
🙂
Del Monte, Kellogs, Mcvities and Cadbury. Many try to copy and come close but not close enough. Almost forgot Lurpak
Crackerjack nut crackers.
Ashley Iles chisels
Magee tweed
Ah just remembered - chisels reminded me.
Mrs. SOM's Lie-Nielsen No.1 bench plane. Like this one.
English bone china tea sets.
My dubarry boots are years old and 'cos hubby looks after them for me, they'll go on for many more.
Blowing my own trumpet here, but my curtains (I'm a professional soft furnisher) seem to last for years. Some customers have them still 20 years on.
Not always a good thing though if one is trying to earn a living.
I've managed to make some decent curtains and blinds in my time out of some pretty cheap awful fabrics. Customers were happy and that's all that matters.
why is that plane face down and not on it's side !!!
Later, when I was cleaning the paint brushes I was using, one of my kids asked me why I was taking such pains to clean brushes when they can be bought 3 for a quid in most discount shops.“Not ones like these, son” I replied, “these are Purdys, they’re the Rolls-Royce of paintbrushes”
so you didn't point out what a terrible attitude that is - to just throw stuff away and replace because it is cheap?
Finance guy on LBC said his daughters liked Primark because you could wear their stuff a couple of times and then throw it away.
Apparently it is now common to throw stuff out once you've been seen in it on social media 3 times.
And that's 'throw it away' and not 'take it to the charity shop'
A study of 2,000 people found that one in 10 would throw away an item after being pictured online with it three times. The survey also revealed one in five throw their clothes in the bin rather than give them to charity.
https://www.standard.co.uk/fashion/fast-fashion-clothing-throw-away-social-media-a3956231.html
this is the 'young' for whom climate change is suppossedly a big issue...
so you didn’t point out what a terrible attitude that is – to just throw stuff away and replace because it is cheap?
Of course I did.
I'm the Rolls-Royce of parents.
My mum was the Masserati of Mothers - she was always breaking down...
I’m the Rolls-Royce of parents.
You're high maintenance and in the end your kids will have nothing to chauffeur it.
Well played Mac, well played. 🙂
STW forum.
The RR of forums for Audi driving Woodstove fetishising middle aged IT managers who have, at least once in their life history, ridden a bike.
Tools.
Bahco, Knipex, Proto, Gedore, Norbar, Wera.
Tech.
I'm an Apple fanboi. IME it works better than the competition for anyone who's a Luddite.
Appliances.
Miele, Siemens, AEG, Numatic, Kitchenaid.
why is that plane face down and not on it’s side !!!
To show it off I imagine (it's not my photo). I guess the blade is fully retracted.
Possibly a couple of guitars made by Fuji-Gen in Japan.
Perfect workmanship, top quality wood and well made, precision components.
Make Gibsons look like something knocked up in first year woodwork. 🙂
Love a Purdy brush! Though these days I tend to buy either DDC or Crown Sythetic own brand jobbies, I find them almost as nice to use but at less than half the price.
Photosonics 1PL Intermittent Pin Registered 16mm Camera
These were wonderful bits of engineering, up to 500 pin registered frames a second and used to take quite a battering.
To show it off I imagine (it’s not my photo). I guess the blade is fully retracted.
Thats all pretty much a school tech thing. Paul Sellers has some interesting thoughts on the matter.
Basically
A well placed plane on a wooden surface is more protected than on its side when you knock it with another tool. The whole on its side thing comes from teaching idiot youth who plonk them on anything. I think Neilson and Isles are nice modernt rolls royces though.
I'm going to disagree with a few things. Surely it needs to be "handmade" in quality and heritage.
For example Telecaster. Great guitar would pick it over a gibson and its spendy enough. BUT. Leo Fender designed it to be mass produced using standard dimension timbers and using repeatable techniques for hand or foot operated machines (fretting). Gibsons... A bit shit way to heavy BUT have a prestige. How about PRS?
Knipex - is there heritage? Is possibly too hightech.
If they still made them i'd pick a KingDick adjustable but i don't think they do and i double the quality is still there in what they do make so....
...My choice shall be Thor Hammers. The rolls royce of ****ing stuff hard but quietly with no sparks. I have three an inherited monster copper and rawhide they provide new rawhide but they merely provide the spec for the tool you require so you can get an engineer to turn you one. I also have a big panel beating one with replaceable heads and a new wee one can't see much difference in quality.