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I'm curious about the long term durability of button locks, both automatic and manual. Consider that the company or maker which produced that knife is defunct or deceased and is no longer able to produce replacement components or service those knives.

From what I have observed all that's needed to restore function to the lock is a replacement of the button spring, and that spring is usually not proprietary. In extreme cases, a new stop pin or a new button assembly could be machined.

Friction folders & slipjoints that have pinned construction can't be easily disassembled, if at all, so damage to a slipjoint's parts or spring could potentially be unrepairable. If a friction folder goes out of spec, becoming loose, this would likewise be unrepairable.

Framelocks & liner locks, if worn out, would require an entirely new lockside or lock to be machined. It would be impossible to reproduce the exact fit & finish of the original part - for example, a makers chamfer the edges of the liner to meet the scales, and this can only be done once - to achieve the same result with a replacement liner would require refinishing of the whole knife.

It seems that button lock knives could potentially last indefinitely, with just a spring replacement every decade or so, even if the company that produced that knife becomes defunct. Are there more complex components that I'm failing to take into consideration?

My short answer is, "yes".

Pinned construction knives are servicable, you just need a skilled person to do the repair.

Frame and liner locks do not need an entirely new lock side to repair in most cases (again, skilled folks know how to accommplish a LOT with a simple blade stop pin modification). And no matter what, assuing that it is impossible to achieve the same fit and finish by making an new lock side scale is baffling...how could it have been done in the first place if it could not be repeated?

Button locks are dandy, but you need to apply the same logic to them as you have to other knife designs. All the parts can wear over time and therefore the idea that you can go to infinity and beyond by replacing one tiny component ignores the wear on all the others. That said, I have seen some slipjoints that are older than ANY member here and they still work nicely without any repairs....so they seem pretty durable.

I would suggest that any knife that is well built and not manipulated constantly like a set of worry beads or stress ball, will last a LONG while. Couple that with responsible use, and I'd bet it will last much much longer than your interest in the piece (the concept of a guy buying a knife that he carries and uses every day for the rest of his life, then hands it to his next of kin who then uses it for his/her lifetime is MUCH more popular in conversation than reality).