In the old days, even very utilitarian things were made to be beautiful.
And built to last forever.
One of my favorite retirement pastimes is to find old things and restore them to working order.. clocks, fans, typewriters, astronomical devices, musical instruments, cars, furniture, calculators, you name it..
I have a few modern things which I’ll concede are superior to their antique counterparts, but mostly, I find it’s the opposite - the antiques are superior.