Victorinox () is a knife manufacturer and watchmaker based in the town of Ibach, in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. It is known for its Swiss Army knives. Since its acquisition of rival Wenger in 2005, it has become the sole supplier of multi-purpose knives to the Swiss army. It is the world's biggest manufacturer of pocket knives; additionally, the company licenses its logo for watches, apparel, and travel gear.
History
Founding
The company was founded in 1884 as Messerfabrik Carl Elsener, the workshop of Karl Elsener in Ibach. In 1891, Elsener co-founded Schweizerischer Messerschmiedverband an association of Swiss knife manufacturers. This began their relationship delivering knives to the Swiss army. In 1892, most of Elsener's knife craftsmen left knives manufacturing as it became apparent that Solingen manufacturers could deliver at a lower price. Elsener persisted in competing with Solingen, hence incurring severe financial losses. Elsener's Schweizer Offiziers- und Sportmesser was patented in 1897, and was later marketed internationally as the Original Swiss Army Knife. This knife was not adopted by the Swiss Armed Forces as ordnance, but its commercial success allowed the company to recover financially. Upon the death of his mother in 1909, Elsener named the brand "Victoria" in her honor. The same year, the Swiss coat of arms was introduced as the company logo. In 1921, the company changed its trade name to the present "Victorinox", a portmanteau of "Victoria" and "inox", an abbreviation for acier inoxydable, French for stainless steel. Its legal name was officially changed in 1979.
Original versus Genuine From 1908 to 2005, the delivery of knives to the Swiss Armed Forces was shared with Wenger. A compromise between the two companies stated that Victorinox would market their knives as the "Original Swiss Army Knives", while Wenger would market theirs as "Genuine Swiss Army Knives". Wenger was acquired by Victorinox in 2005. Knives actually made for the army (as opposed to the generic "Swiss Army" trademark) are known as Soldatenmesser ("soldier knives"). These were produced in five generations, known by the date of their introduction as models 1890, 1908, 1951, 1961 and "08" (with minor variants within each generation). Model 1890 was originally produced by Wester & Co, Solingen, and produced by Elsenser in competition with the Solingen manufacturer. Models 1908 and 1951 were also produced by several companies in Germany and Switzerland. Model 1961 was produced exclusively by Victorinox and Wenger, and Model 08, introduced after the acquisition of Wenger, is exclusively manufactured by Victorinox.
Swiss army issued knives: 1890–2008
Wenger acquisition
On 26 April 2005, Victorinox acquired Wenger, the other official supplier of the Swiss Army knife, announcing that it intended to keep both brands intact, only separate entities. In 2006, the company had a workforce of 900 employees. Its daily output was about 34000 Swiss Army knives, 38000 multi-tools, and 30000 household kitchen knives. Approximately 90% of its production is exported to more than 100 countries. On 30 January 2013, Victorinox announced that the company was merging Wenger's knife product lines with the Victorinox brand to strengthen its competitive position internationally.
Products
Swiss Army knives
The Swiss Army knife is the best-known product by Victorinox. Originally the sole supplier, Victorinox shared the military contract with Wenger between 1908 and their acquisition of Wenger in 2005. During the years when the Wenger brand was active, a compromise between the two companies gave Victorinox the right to advertise the "Original Swiss Army Knife", while Wenger laid claim to the title of "Genuine Swiss Army Knife". Swiss Army knives are widely used outside the army, and civilian sales represent most of the turnover. They are multi-functional tools, and many sizes and functional combinations are produced. NASA astronauts each have a Victorinox knife at their disposal as standard equipment. Victorinox knives have also been taken to Mount Everest and the Arctic as well. The "Champion", Victorinox's flagship model, prior to the introduction of the "SwissChamp" in 1986, is displayed in the New York Museum of Modern Art's Permanent Design Collection.
SwissCard The SwissCard is roughly the size of a business card, typically with a small pair of scissors, a short non-folding knife, a small file with a screwdriver point, a plastic toothpick, tweezers, a slim ballpoint pen, and a straight pin, housed in a hard plastic case of 82 × 54.5 x 4.5 mm in size, with an inch ruler on one side and metric measurements on the other. Victorinox produces three types of SwissCards, the Classic, the Quattro and the Lite model. All three models differ in the number of functions they provide, ranging from 10 (Classic) to 13 functions (Quattro and Lite).
Cutlery Victorinox has long produced other kitchen cutlery under their own name and the Forschner brand name. In 2011 Victorinox stopped using the Forschner name and has since manufactured the same knives only with the Victorinox name.
Professional knives Victorinox make a range of household and professional (NSF certified) food preparation knives. They offer chef's knives, bread, carving, filleting, deboning, paring, Santoku and specialized knives such as a cheese knife. Victorinox models are made with molded plastic handles, wooden handles or riveted handles. Most models have stamped blades, but one series has a forged bolster. They also have no ricasso – the flat section of the blade located at the junction of the blade and the heel. Most models use stainless steel blades and one type is also available with ceramic blades.
Bayonets Victorinox also produces the Sturmgewehr 90 bayonet for the Swiss Sturmgewehr 90 assault rifle. The bayonet has an overall length of 310 mm and a muzzle ring diameter of 22 mm. The 177 mm long blade is single-edged and it has no fuller. The bayonets were manufactured exclusively for the Swiss Army by both Wenger and Victorinox before the two companies merged.
Timepieces
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