Collecting | 79 Swiss Army Style 2 How easily we take things for granted. So familiar is the Victorinox Swiss Army emblem that we regard it as much a part of life as our favourite newspaper, the NHS or the Royal Mail. And if we’re honest, we have to admit we don’t really know that much about them. So let’s start with a bombshell: one out of every five Swiss watches sold in the USA – the largest market in the world – is made by Victorinox. Ken Kessler 80 | Brands Brands | 81 Yes: 20 percent of that country’s entire consumption. Need more? Victorinox is the third largest exporter of Swiss watches after Swatch and Tissot. They sell 25 million knives a year. In the company’s nearly-125-year history, not one single employee has been laid off because of recession or a sales downturn. Sales downturn? Huh? As the previous CEO, Sue Rechner, told me in early 2006, the atrocity of 11 September 2001 caused ‘… a decline of approximately 30%. A major portion of the decline was attributed to the changes in airline policy which Shocking any preconceived significantly affected the duty-free notions about its validity business behind security gates.’ And as the company found out, travellers who (Above) Dive Master 500 has an ETA 2896 self-winding movement with a 42-hour power reserve. Water resistant to 500 m, luminous hands and markers, big date calendar and a titanium case and bracelet. as a watch producer rather lost their knives at the security (Below) With a Valgranges A07.211 movement, the Ambassador XL Chrono has a 46-hour power reserve, inspection rarely replaced them. a 45.5 mm case with screw-in, shock-resistant mineral crystal exhibition caseback. than a badge engineer. On its first appearance at Basel, Victorinox’s annual watch production Take, for example, the Dive Master 500, even hardened veterans were is in excess of 700,000 pieces, of which Victorinox’s first mechanical diving more than 25,000 are mechanical. With watch. Limited to 900 pieces, this heard to mutter, ‘I gotta the addition of more sophisticated secure-to-500-meters automatic features models, launched at higher price points, a titanium case and bracelet finished in get me one of those.’ global appeal has increased to the point a special ‘off-black’ PVD coating, ‘big date’ where sales in the USA are approaching facility, sapphire glass back and one of 50 percent, from a high of 90 percent. the most highly legible dials in recent Such a blow might seem fatal to company luggage and the recentlyadded range Which suggests that Victorinox’s plan for memory. On its first appearance at Basel, built on the manufacture of knives. of rugged apparel, the watches unified, international appeal is succeeding. even hardened veterans were heard to But the legendary ‘pocket tools’ are only were created first and foremost for mutter, ‘I gotta get me one of those.’ Too part of the story: in cutlery alone, the the USA. Force to be reckoned with bad: the watch sold out to the trade on brand offers more than 300 models, Suddenly we need to regard Victorinox in announcement. At £995, it’s also a steal. as well as professional catering cutlery, Enjoying immediate success, a different light. Prior to the introduction tableware and other products not found and growing 20 percent of more ‘professional’ models, Victorinox It will be amusing to see industry insiders in passengers’ hand luggage. Even so, annually since 1989, the Swiss Army Watches were predominantly ‘paying retail’. the pocket knives have recovered half of watch division was, until quartz and predominantly affordable – their lost sales. 2003, primarily a North a couple of hundred dollars was a typical American phenomenon. price. But of late, the models have grown Weather the storm Victorinox rightly concen- more ‘horological’, if that’s the way to Despite that unfortunate hiccup, trated on that market, but describe greater interest for enthusiasts. Victorinox has gone from strength to since 2003, the company Assessing the position of the Victorinox strength, not least because of the watch has been ‘repatriating’ its watch brand as of 2008 (although the and luggage divisions – both of which activities back to Switzerland, company’s spokespersons are too polite were born before 9/11. And yet the going for a more unified, to state it), manufacturers from Hamilton UK watch community’s relative ignorance global approach for all four to TAG-Heuer to Longines are natural of Victorinox’s global status as a watch product divisions: watches, targets. In the UK, anything between brand is easy to understand: like the cutlery, luggage, apparel. £300 and £1500 is fair game. 82 | Brands Brands | 83 All in a name Since 1884, nomenclature has been a serious matter for Victorinox. The company’s name is a classic, like Kodak or Rolex. In 1909, founder Carl Elsener took his beloved mother’s name – Victoria – as that of the company’s, but an invention in 1921 provided the definitive form. Stainless steel first appeared that year, so Elsener combined ‘Victoria’ with ‘inox’, the abbreviated name for ‘inoxydable’ (or stainless steel in French). And what a word he coined! In four syllables, he conveyed a sense of the regal, solidity and triumph. As the official supplier of knives and assorted tools to the Swiss Army from 1891, Victorinox was able to register the name in key markets. It was the success of the knives with US soldiers returning home after WWII that made ‘Swiss Army knife’ a generic term for any multi-function tool: the local Suddenly we need to regard name for the officer’s knife, or ‘Offiziermesser’, didn’t travel so well. Thus a legend was born. Victorinox in a different light. In 1989, with the arrival of the watch brand, ‘Swiss Army’ They’re not kidding.) By any measure, Victorinox’s self-awareness is utterly also appeared on the dials, but the latest efforts for the given the construction and componentry, realistic, this family-owned company company, as part of its globalisation, is to concentrate on the watches are almost underpriced. will not veer from its long-held using just Victorinox. With the acquisition in 2005 of Wenger, beliefs, and sensible pricing remains a rival since 1893, any confusion should be a thing of the past. A tour of the watch factory at a paramount concern. Which means Porrentruy was eye-opening. Any using the most robust and sensible prejudices the visitor harbours must movements money can buy. be left at the door. Slightly off the beaten path, the factory is tranquil, As for sourcing parts from Asia, this will I bought a Victorinox sports jacket with more pockets ultra-modern and working at full never happen. Sebastien Muller, strength, with over 50 staff involved Director of Victorinox’s watch division than a mob of kangaroos. in every stage… including watchmakers explained that, above all, ‘The heart of seduced from Breitling and Jaeger- a Victorinox watch MUST be Swiss.’ How about the Ambassador XL Chrono? platinum. Although out of character LeCoultre. Every watch, including a Another limited edition at only 750 pieces, with the company’s entry-to-mid-price range of models starting at SFr185, is Or they’ll send out the Army? it’s handsome enough, with its chocolate philosophy, it proved that the company assembled and tested in the factory. dial and 45.5 mm case, to justify a price could transcend any preconceived notions And, as the company proudly boasts, of £1150. But throw this in for good about its validity as a watch producer each watch has a three-year measure: the Ambassador CL Chrono rather than badge engineer. guarantee. ‘The industry standard features the exciting new Valgranges is two years!’ automatic chronograph movement, an Spirit of the knives early appearance of this calibre that adds Both of the new models embody all of the Like every serious Swiss (Top) The Maverick and the Chrono Classic XLS both use quartz movements and feature bold historical importance to the rest of its company’s core beliefs. As with the other brand, it has its clean (Left) SSC Chronograph has functional-chic designs. impressive, inherent features. non-bladed products, everything wearing room facilities and micro- a self-winding Valgranges (Above) Swiss Alps. a Victorinox badge has to reflect the engineering departments, A07.211 movement, 1/4 second short time Not that the Valgranges movement is spirit of the knives, a litany of corporate- prototyping and design measurement for up to new to Victorinox. In 2006, the company stated virtues including ‘Swiss quality, teams, and ambitious plans 12 hours on the dial, date calendar, tachymeter scale produced a costly ‘high end’ limited ingenuity, practicality and iconic design.’ within a framework that and chronograph function. Black dial on leather strap, edition called the Legacy Réserve De (I bought a Victorinox sports jacket with must, inevitably, incorporate black dial or silver dial on Marche Platine – 60 pieces only, in more pockets than a mob of kangaroos. ETA movements. Because stainless steel bracelet £1,150..