Nice question about the WOW factor, I thought about it some time and I have the following list (in alphabetical order), but I realise that this list could have many more instruments which yield a WOW experience as I noticed when I walked through the optical museums in Jena and in Oberkochen and I will probably have an even stronger experience when we have the possibility to visit Peter Louwmans new optics museum in The Netherlands in 2013:
- Angenieux 7x30
- Asahi Pentax Marine 6x30 Porro in B&L construction
- Asahi Pentax Papilio 6,5x21 Porro
- Bausch and Lomb (1942-1944) 7x50 porro
- Bleeker Medibu 6x30 porro
- Ednar military (Leica made) 6x42 Porro
- Hartmann Compact 7x35 porro
- Hartmann Compact 8x30 Porro N.B. My impression is that Nikon copied the Hartmann compacts for its original 7x35 and its 8x30 E porro's
- Hensoldt-Wacht 5x35 roof (1905 or 1906)
- Hensoldt Jagd Dialyt 6x36 roof (1910-1918)
- Hensoldt Dialyt roof 8x32
- Hensoldt Nacht Dialyt roof 8x56, later produced by Zeiss as Zeiss Dialyt 8x56
- Kern Armee 6x30 porro from 1934, probably the first binocular with twist up eyecups
- Leitz Fernglass 08 lens binocular 5x40 (so-called Holland glass because of the Dutch inventor of the binoculars Hans Lipperhey. Sometimes one also sees these binoculars named as Galilei binoculars, but Galilei never invented binoculars and he never claimed that). Fernglas 08 was made by many companies and one can only see the difference upon looking to the inscription on it, so one finds Fernglas 08 made by Zeiss, Goerz, Bush, Voigtländer etc.) Very strong instrument and nice to see.
- Leitz Amplivid 6x24 (prism+mirror) with very large FOV
- Leitz Trinovids 7x35B AND 10X40B. Beautiful design and very compact
- Leica Trinovid 8x32BN
- Leica Ultravid HD 8x32
- Leica Ultravid 8x20
- Nedinsco Nedelta 7x50 Porro, extremely sturdy, originally made by Zeiss in Holland
- Nedinsco-Zeiss and Zeiss-Jena Silvamar 6x30 porro. Many many were made mostly under the name of Zeiss. This binocular was in production for many years
- Nikon 8x30 porro FOV 8,5 degrees (first E-model?)
- Nikon 10x70 porro
- Optolyth 12x50 porro very lightweight
- PZO Poland 7x45 porro
- Ross porro-2 7x50
- Sard 7x50 Porro very beautiful to look at and to look through, B&L housing construction
- Swarovski Habicht 8x30 Porro
- Swarovski SLC new 8x30 roof
- Swarovski EL 8,5x42 as wel as the EL SV (I have not noticed any rolling Brock effect) roof
- Swarovski EL-SV 8x32 roof
- Swarovski SLC-HD 8x42 roof
- Swarovski EL Range 8x42 roof with built-in distance meter
- Tento Russia 8x30 roof
- Zeiss Jena model 1 porro 8x20 (approx 1896)
- Zeiss Jena Marine glass 5 and 10x25 porro 91896)
- Zeiss Jena porro Turmon monocular 8x21 (1921)
- Zeiss Jena 7x50 RLN porro, first civil binocular produced from military binocular design after WW-2 (1944-1945). Was probably used for the design and production of the 7x50 Nedinsco binoculars.
- Zeiss Jena Notarem 8x32 roof
- Zeiss mini roof 6x21 (1971)
- Zeiss Nautic Dialyt 6x42 roof (first binocular with phase correction coating in 1988)
- Zeiss Dialyt 7x42 roof, splendid instrument
- Zeiss Dialyt 8x56 roof, see also Hensoldt Nacht Dialyt 8x56
- Zeiss Victory roof FL 7x42 and 8x42