The mechanism is solid. The grind sizes are great and it produces a lot of pepper in a short time. It has even fallen on a tile floor without a scratch. I purchased this after Cole & Mason was mentioned on the Buy It For Life subreddit. I am replacing a Peugeot pepper mill. The Cole & Mason mill works way better and feels to be a better quality too. Oh! And unlike the Peugeot mill, this one doesn't change the grind size as you use it!