Originally Posted by TGT1

I was taught that vernier meant, very near.

They can be extremely accurate, but require some feel and usually a magnifying glass to read, and yes, are almost impossible to ruin unless you bend them.

Any dial caliper should be periodically checked against a known standard.

Even the plastic digital ones should be good enough for anything you'd be doing on a bike unless you are actually machining parts.

If you are getting down to tenths, it's time to get the micrometers out anyway.