granddaddy of them all

The first, oldest, or most respected of its kind, as in That computer is the grandaddy of them all. [Colloquial; c. 1900]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.