Buckles
Here’s the difference between a cheap buckle and some very nice ones. The buckle in the top left of this picture is an economy roller buckle. It’s made from base metal with a lousy chrome plating. The other silver colored ones are stainless steel, and the one on the bottom right is solid brass with a stainless steel tongue.
Not only is the cheap buckle ugly (in my opinion), it doesn’t function nearly as well as the other three. The roller is fitted very loosely. The tabs that keep the tongue in place are too far apart. The tongue is crudely bent and ground.
Eventually the chrome plating will pit and wear off this buckle, exposing the base metal. This can’t happen to stainless steel or brass. Stainless and brass can easily be given a hand brushed finish or polished to a mirror finish. They won’t ever pit or corrode. 
[...] See this blog post by Scott for the differentiation of roller buckle quality. [...]