Swiss Army Knives have grown from being an essential tool for soldiers to a world-wide icon of ingenuity and quality. In 2014 Victorinox merged the two product lines, making Victorinox the sole manufacturer of Swiss Army Knives once again, although they decided to continue manufacturing some of the former Wenger knives under the Victorinox 'Delémont' brand. However in 2005 Victorinox took over Wenger, but ran the two companies completely independently, with separate product lines, for several years. See Wiki pages right →įor nearly one hundred years the two companies operated autonomously. It is these models (typically with red handles), not the Soldier models, that most people think of when envisioning a Swiss Army Knife! Over the decades many, many varied models and sizes have been manufactured. In 1897 Karl Elsener brought out his legendary Officer's and Sports Knife, this was the start of the the ubiquitous Victorinox 91mm range, and over time both companies started making tools for the general public - in addition to their military contracts. The company first took on the Wenger name in 1907 as Wenger Co Limited Partnership, later in 1922 to become the current Wenger Co SA. A short time later, Theo Wenger was hired and promoted to director. A few years later the company was purchased by a number of entrepreneurs and renamed the Fabrique Suisse De Coutellerie SA. The Wenger company started out as Boechat & Cie in 1893 in the small town of Courtetelle. His mother's name, Victoria, was where half the company's eventual name would come from, the other half being 'inox', taken from the steel manufacturing breakthrough known as 'inoxydable' (stainless) in French, a reference to the stainless steel that was eventually used, and forever changed the cutlery business. Many of the knives were originally sold through his mother's hat shop in the German speaking town of Ibach. The Victorinox company was started by Swiss cutler Karl Elsener.
The two companies Victorinox ( 'The Original Swiss Army Knife'), and Wenger ( 'The Genuine Swiss Army Knife') are the only organisations legally allowed to use the term Swiss Army Knife in reference to their products. In 1908 the Swiss manufacturer now known as Wenger also started making these knives, and the supply of the Soldier knife was split in half across the two manufacturers by the Swiss military. They manufactured the first Swiss Soldier Knife for the Swiss Army, and one has been issued to every enlisted person since then. The world of Swiss Army Knives was created in 1891 by the Swiss manufacturer now known as Victorinox, with the help of many smaller Swiss cutlers. The Online Encyclopedia of the Swiss Army Knife
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