I am in the camp which looks back at the early Stronglight and OMAS BBs as very well made. My OMAS on the Vitus (on topic as just inside the guidelines) just never gave up-- it's still a very light, fully functioning BB. Wish I could say the same for my Phil which failed totally after far too few miles. The company was good about a replacement unit, but I have heard or known of several other failures, mainly among the hard-core tourists on very long tours.
Ken Wehrenberg, Hermann, MO -- for you Phil Wood fans out there, let me say that I got far fewer miles out of a Shimano splined XTR than even the Phil, so high-end stuff just isn't without fault.