I think your hypothesis is correct; modern tooling allows repetitive precision that cannot be achieved with simpler tools. For me, much of the allure and my excitement about the antiques is the empirical ingenuity of the craftsmen in creating functional and beautiful edged weapons despite the limitations of tooling, materials and understanding of what is really happening at a physical and chemical level.
I will take it further and opine that the sometimes derided modern mass market replicas will outperform the treasured heirloom antiques if the manufacturer pays careful attention to the selection of material and proper subsequent heat treatment for that specific material.
One advantage the old makers would have had would be feedback from those that actually employed these weapons as such. The replica maker does not need to find any originality when reproducing the geometries worked out long ago, as improvement on that is rarely possible.
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