I could be wrong, but my understanding is that lugs aimed to provide some frame integrity even if the brazing wasn't top notch. I love my lugged 531 frame, but the real opportunity for connecting strength, craftsmanship, and art came from lugless fillet brazing. Lugs look 'right' to me, and there were a lot of beautiful lugs. I just don't know which lugs hid bad brazes. Reynolds 631 an 853 have truly ugly labels, and the welds aren't beautiful, but if they brought higher strength and lower cost to more people, I'm OK with it.