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Long famous for its durability, large range of different instruments, and quality components, the current form of the Swiss Army knife has been supplied to the Swiss Army for over 100 years. Victorinox and Wenger have perfected the manufacturing of these quality instruments by incorporating the most modern production techniques with traditional craftsmanship. The Swiss Army is still supplied with about 50,000 of these knives yearly. In add-on to the Swiss armed forces using the Swiss Army knife, it gained huge popularity amongst explorers, hikers, campers and even as a basic staple of many traditional households.

The origin of the very first Swiss Army knife can be traced back to Karl Elsener. Elsener was a patriarch who was Shocked to discover the knives supplied to the Swiss Army were created in neighbouring Germany. It took Elsener about 5 years to manufacture the first knife utilized by the Swiss Army that was actually produced in Switzerland. In 1909, Elsener renamed his company Victoria, after his mother who had recently passed away. In 1921, when the company started using stainless steel, or inox, to manufacture its knives, it was renamed Victorinox. Victorinox is still run by the K. Elsener family, with Carl Elsener heading the company today. The term ‘Swiss Army knife‘ was not originally conceived by Victorinox. Its recognised name at the time, ‘Schweizer Offizer Messer’, was too difficult to pronounce, and thus the term ‘Swiss Army knife’ was coined.

Initially made as only one model, today’s Swiss Army knives are available in upwards of 100 models with various combinations of instruments for different tasks. These include knives that contain 1 blade to knives that feature an additional blade, toothpick, pair of tweezers, corkscrew, flat-head and Phillips-head screwdriver, Biro, bottle and can opener, nail file, pair of scissors, saw, file, magnifying glass, fish scaler, wrench, pliers, USB thumb drive, digital clock, altimeter, laser pointer and a MP3 player. The basic model is some 9 centimetres long and 2cm wide. Small models are usually just less than 6cm and only 1.5cm wide. The biggest model ever made, Wenger’s ‘The Giant’ was upwards of 22cm thick and contained 85 different instruments.