I have three pairs around the house. A no-name 7x35 my Grandmother gave me as a child, a pair of Zeiss N 7x50, and a fairly new pair of Nikon 7x35. The Zeiss were state-of-the-art for 60 or 70 years ago, and are still far superior in every way to the no-name glass here, but the newer Nikons are even better yet, and were only $125 or so. Vintage really can't compete fairly in this arena, there have been too many advances in manufacturing technology. New methods of grinding glass and new coatings get superior products.
The advantages of the TOL offerings are brighter, crisper images all the way to the edges of view, and superior color rendition. Not usually terribly important unless you spend large periods of time looking through them; lesser glass leads to eye fatigue in this case.
What kind of budget and uses do you have in mind? Modern Swarovski, Zeiss, Steiner, et al are all superb, but come priced to match. Modern Nikon, Pentax, Canon I have found to be generally just a step below, but not terribly far behind and much more affordable. I don't know if Fuji still makes binocs or not, but they used to make some of the best glass available at any price.