Any love for Wenger?

[enki_ck]

Btw, does anyone know when the Wenger scissors patent ran out? Was it possibly '96?

[North Man]

Btw, does anyone know when the Wenger scissors patent ran out? Was it possibly '96?

i am not sure?

I took a picture of the old style and the more new style compass. Sadly the old is broken, still i like it alot for history.

[basilio]

I took a picture of the old style and the more new style compass. Sadly the old is broken, still i like it alot for history.

(Image removed from quote.)

I basically saw four different compass variations:
1) very old style, with metal border;
2) old style (as seen in the 1995 European catalog);
3) old style similar to the one above but with a orange plastic "ring" on the border;
4) newer style (like pictured above on the right).
A local shop here has still few of them, which were sold as replacement.
Is your compass broken? Or it is just not attached to the ruler?
If it was the compass, I think I should be able to find you a replacement.
Edit: found a picture of the above 1) compass from Stressmaster (scroll down to almost the end of the page)
https://plus.google.com/photos/113972130751178685410/albums/5184824931801034977#photos/113972130751178685410/albums/5184824931801034977/5628595530229768242

[North Man]

I took a picture of the old style and the more new style compass. Sadly the old is broken, still i like it alot for history.

(Image removed from quote.)

I basically saw four different compass variations:
1) very old style, with metal border;
2) old style (as seen in the 1995 European catalog);
3) old style similar to the one above but with a orange plastic "ring" on the border;
4) newer style (like pictured above on the right).
A local shop here has still few of them, which were sold as replacement.
Is your compass broken? Or it is just not attached to the ruler?
If it was the compass, I think I should be able to find you a replacement.
Edit: found a picture of the above 1) compass from Stressmaster (scroll down to almost the end of the page)
https://plus.google.com/photos/113972130751178685410/albums/5184824931801034977#photos/113972130751178685410/albums/5184824931801034977/5628595530229768242

hi
thanks for info, the right model on my picture is the older of the two. Atleast i think so - no wheel turning.
I can see it got liquid in it. It has kind of jumped out of the place.
The knife is one i really like Never been used, maybe i have showed it before. I estimate it to be a knife 1985-1990 - not 100% sure. The compass seems original.

[North Man]

i believe the model is the Matterhorn plus

[basilio]

hi
thanks for info, the right model on my picture is the older of the two. Atleast i think so - no wheel turning.
I can see it got liquid in it. It has kind of jumped out of the place.
The knife is one i really like Never been used, maybe i have showed it before. I estimate it to be a knife 1985-1990 - not 100% sure. The compass seems original.

Hi,
the liquid is normal...it is supposed to be there.
Unfortunately the replacements I saw where for the model on the left of your picture.... will see if I find the correct compass for you

[basilio]

Recently found few interesting Wenger's.
The first one is not a mod!
His official name is EvoHunter 505 (catalog 1 505 59 300) and was made for (and only sold in) the Czech Republic.
Interesting is, as you see, the small gutting blade, similar (or is the same?) to the one found in the Victorinox Hunter.
I don't remember Wenger using this tool in any other knife.
You can also see that inside the liners was put a metal circular "part" (sorry I'm not able to describe it in english) for the gutting blade to rest.

[basilio]

label from previous post

[basilio]

An additional interesting knife.
I think this is the smallest model equipped with the ceramic sharpener.
It is model 1 03 05 and has no back tools.
The 1995 catalog shows this model (without the flying lure) under the Pecheur section
http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-browse_image.php?galleryId=97&sort_mode=imageId_asc&imageId=2395&scalesize=o
Don't know why the nail file was not implemented...there seems to be space for it.

[basilio]

The last is model 1 38 61.
Nothing special, but you don't see them very often.
It is basically a "Deer" without he "Deer" emblem on the front scale.
Can be seen on the catalog under the "Securitè/2" section.
http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-browse_image.php?galleryId=97&sort_mode=imageId_asc&imageId=2386&scalesize=o

[North Man]

nice finds!  ;)i like them

about the compass liquid: - yes i know it is supposed to be there  not sure it is well to drink, still i have heard about compasses suddenly being out of liquids

[North Man]

Recently found few interesting Wenger's.
The first one is not a mod!
His official name is EvoHunter 505 (catalog 1 505 59 300) and was made for (and only sold in) the Czech Republic.
Interesting is, as you see, the small gutting blade, similar (or is the same?) to the one found in the Victorinox Hunter.
I don't remember Wenger using this tool in any other knife.
You can also see that inside the liners was put a metal circular "part" (sorry I'm not able to describe it in english) for the gutting blade to rest.

the metal part protecting the rivit is interesting

[basilio]

about the compass liquid: - yes i know it is supposed to be there  not sure it is well to drink, still i have heard about compasses suddenly being out of liquids

Not sure either.....
I honestly consider this tool the worst one ever designed by Wenger.... it takes the space for two/three layers and the compass is even not very precise.

[North Man]

yes the compass could be better and it takes space. Anyhow it will be helpful if needed and give a basic direction. it is more in the Gadget feel for me

[J Mackrel Jones]

Btw, does anyone know when the Wenger scissors patent ran out? Was it possibly '96?

Their patent is dated 1975 and a European patent is good for 20 years so I figure it expired in 1994.
Wenger used this design beginning 1973 - companies often get the product on the market before the patent process is complete.  When the 17 years of a US patent expired the scissors said EP Patent (European Patent) for a while. This also appeared on Wenger's self-locking screwdrivers.
Young's SAK Owner's Manual has a good chronology for both Victorinox and Wenger tool development.

[enki_ck]

Btw, does anyone know when the Wenger scissors patent ran out? Was it possibly '96?

Their patent is dated 1975 and a European patent is good for 20 years so I figure it expired in 1994.
Wenger used this design beginning 1973 - companies often get the product on the market before the patent process is complete.  When the 17 years of a US patent expired the scissors said EP Patent (European Patent) for a while. This also appeared on Wenger's self-locking screwdrivers.
Young's SAK Owner's Manual has a good chronology for both Victorinox and Wenger tool development.

Thank you. This confirms my suspicion about when and why one other manufacturer started using their design. 

[basilio]

EvoHunter 505 (catalog 1 505 59 300) and was made for (and only sold in) the Czech Republic.

Small edit: while I'm pretty much sure about the Czech R. market, I can't confirm it at 100%.
Should someone have any additional information about this knife please post here!

[ColoSwiss]

Carlo,

Some great finds. Never seen that EvoHunter before. 

I have two name for the 1.03.05 - Fisherman's Sharpener (possibly a dealer's name) and Angler (again).

The three references to Deer that I have are all numbered 16994, while the plain unnamed version is 1 38 61. It may be the Deer with logo was a US only item, while the plain version was for Europe.

The 1979 catalog that ICFT recently downloaded has a Deer with different logo and number ( 16956 ) and no lock.

[ICanFixThat]

Wow very nice finds. Love the EvoHunter 505 (catalog 1 505 59 300), it looks like they used a Victorinox blade from their 111mm hunter.

[North Man]

yes very nice indeed

i took forward the Matterhorn plus again, i believe it is the correct name. Have in mind  that these are observations.
The older one i estimate to be 1985-1988/90 based on my knowledge. The newer around 1990-1994.
I took some pictures showing the interesting changes/variations on them, we have some info from before that did mention the compass or orienting tool is from around 1986. The functions i will show here is some of the other since its shown already The older got the patented locking on the flat screwdriver aswell as the new.
Also interesting is the backside tang stamp : 3 blade W that i found to be from around 1988, again just observations. The Phillips on the old is without the locking.. enjoy

[North Man]

i will do some more research later on

[North Man]

by the way, not sure i have mentioned this before?
We discussed before the scales on the EvoWood and the special 3M tape.

I had in 2010 a question to Wenger on the silver embossed icons - Backpacker , Windjammer and many more. I soon got a reply on this:
- It was a marking tape, and we have stopped marking this knives with tape in the 80's. Afterwards, we have marked them with a normal ink pad printing in silver

[basilio]

Very nice comparison shots North Man!!!!!
You were right and I apologize for my error about the compass.
I just checked myself with an old Matterhorn plus I have (which has, apart from some unusual blue scales, the main blade without the logo, fishscaler without the seying eye etc...) and it has indeed the black compass.
So that one was older.
------------------------
I'm attaching few shots that I didn't have time to upload yesterday.
They are from model 1 23 13 that was mentioned in the "Major/Oberst" topic
Basically it has the same configuration as model 1 23 03 (listed as "Major" in the wiki) but with the small blade instead of nail file
http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-browse_image.php?galleryId=97&sort_mode=imageId_asc&imageId=2373&scalesize=0

[North Man]

Very nice comparison shots North Man!!!!!
You were right and I apologize for my error about the compass.
I just checked myself with an old Matterhorn plus I have (which has, apart from some unusual blue scales, the main blade without the logo, fishscaler without the seying eye etc...) and it has indeed the black compass.
So that one was older.
------------------------
I'm attaching few shots that I didn't have time to upload yesterday.
They are from model 1 23 13 that was mentioned in the "Major/Oberst" topic
Basically it has the same configuration as model 1 23 03 (listed as "Major" in the wiki) but with the small blade instead of nail file
http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-browse_image.php?galleryId=97&sort_mode=imageId_asc&imageId=2373&scalesize=0

you are welcome thanks for info

nice find!
So we can say 1 23 03 with nailfile and 1 23 13 with small blade

Wenger got variations everywhere

[basilio]

UPDATE ON THE EVOHUNTER 505

Since I wanted to investigate a little more about the markets were this knife was sold, I sent an email to Wenger.
As usual, after few hours I got an answer, written in perfect italian by the Wenger Sales Assistant.
Here is part of the email, transated by me:

"Congratulations for this rare acquisition.
In fact, of that knife were produced only 500 pieces.
Initially, the knife was produced for the Czech Republic (300 units). Then, 200 additional units were produced, which were sold in different countries: Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Hong Kong and Venezuela."

I was suspecting Italy, as I saw the cover picture of an italian blade magazine mentioning the knife (see attachment).
I have back-ordered the magazine...once received I will write a small article about this interesting knife.
So I was not completely wrong about the sale in the Czech Republic. My knife was made in 2009 (as indicated by the box label) so, at the time, the knife was probably made only for that market.
The italian magazine is from January 2012, so probably around the time the knife was available here and possibly in the other markets mentioned in the email.

[North Man]

new to me
excellent knife and excellent research Basilio!

[basilio]

(Image removed from quote.)

Interesting picture....reminds me Michelangelo

[North Man]

 

[North Man]

I just got back from the post office and in the mail was an older 1979 Wenger Catalog from US distributor.  Mostly pictures and/or names, but on the sportsman series with all the different imprints, like we were discussing a few pages back, I see a Sailfish and Eagle, which don't show up often, and of course the Mustang. 

Interesting it lists the main name for the 'Pointer' correctly as the Setter, with 'Pointer' as an alternate.  of particular note is that it states that it is the worlds largest SAK.  I guess I need one of those in my collection one day.

The catalog also seems to confirm what we had already determined; it states that Wenger 'were the first Swiss Army Knives with a lifetime warranty'.

Well I won't spoil all the fun, but it's a catalog from a distributor so it only has a few pages for Wenger, but it helps date a couple knives.

Sidenote: The catalog is shows quite a few different series made by Aitor which are very close copies of some of the swiss knives, they are much closer that those that they offer today.

Hi
Once again - excellent catalogue

Not sure i have mentioned before, this catalogue is 1979. Just to remind about my information some time ago, that the embossed icons is older than 1979. Many know this. I did much research before on them.
In backpacker December 1977 it is mentioned :
Presenting two new series - Personalized and Sportsman presentation with characters on the scales to more easy identify with your interests.

I do not like to guess but i have a feeling that the numbers of characters grew? And the 1979 show more embossed models. I did suspect that the Skier from 1975 had the embossed icon, i can not say for sure yet?
Very glad about the new wiki catalogue!

[Marius]

A Violet Ranger