I think the Herse crankset is one of the best looking crank sets I have I ever seen. If I had much more money time and space, I would have a retro touring bike with one on it. I would never use this bike for much more than riding around town.
However, if I needed to rely on my bike for real uses such as riding, commuting, or touring I would not consider it for even one second. Yes it is well engineered and will work well, but the lack of compatibility with standard chainrings is just foolish. Even if money is no concern, trying to find chainrings if you are far from home could be very difficult.
For touring, I suggest getting a 5 bolt crankset with the outer bolt diameter being 110 and the inner 74. You can find chain rings for those everywhere and in many many sizes. I have seen as small as 24 and as large as 54. Then ruin a wide by not crazy wide rear cassette. One with the smallest being 11 or 12 and the largest 30 or 32. Having the largest as 34-42 may sound good, but that can lead to a huge amount of other problems.
The best touring crank I know of, the Sugino XD500-T http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/cranks/11074.html One problem, it does not work well with 10 or 11 speed rear systems. In those cases, I would suggest something like a modern Shimano MTB triple crank.
