I have Smiths gauges and lucas switches and no failures or innacuracies ( to my knowledge) in 8,000 miles. I have heard of others encountering problems , usually
oil pressure gauge or speedo most often mentioned.
i have friends with a variety of different brands' gauges in their cars, all seem to report a problem now and then, so not sure any specific brand is fool proof...some are good, some are not is my take...kinda like light bulbs, some go right away and others last for years, eh ? bill