WENGER KNIVES DISCONTINUED

[TurkTeen]

http://www.victorinox.com/ch/content/news_page/nc_Victorinox_Wenger-Press

It appears that Victorinox decided to stop producing Wenger tools and will focus on Victorinox swiss army knives. 

Goddbye, Wenger. Thank you for everything.

[condcup]

 

[Storky]

Goddbye, Wenger. Thank you for everything.

You only have Victorinox knives. What Wenger
has done for you in the last 13 years? 

Regards

Markus

[space cowboy]

Its a good thing I bought a new Wenger SI..!!

[kirk13]

Goddbye, Wenger. Thank you for everything.

You only have Victorinox knives. What Wenger
has done for you in the last 13 years? 

Regards

Markus

Unless I've miss read this,that's a bit out of order!

While Wenger has lived very much in Vitorinox shadow,they have,especially in the last ten years or so offered us many new innovations,far more than Vic have in the same period.

TurkTeen,and many other new users and collectors have good grounds to grieve the passing of Wenger,regardless of whether they currently own any.

[J Mackrel Jones]

   The weird, mystical trademark stamps of the Boechat years, the woman’s hand in the development of the early Wenger line, the changes of factory location, a disastrous fire, the inter-office family feuds and take-overs, compared to the orderly father-to-son management of Victorinox, always in Ibach since 1884:  the histories of these two Swiss knife companies could not be more different. Wenger and Victorinox are the yin and yang of the cutlery world.

   Victorinox acquired Wenger, their competitor for over a hundred years despite being one-tenth their size, as a partner in 2005, a move both brave and noble on the part of the larger company:  brave in granting the smaller firm autonomy in production and marketing, noble in saving the Swiss reputation for quality and the Wenger shield from foreign acquisition.  But now in a Wenger press release of 30 January 2013 Carl Elsener says “In the global fight for survival we are joining forces and focusing on one brand:  Victorinox.”  “An assortment from the Wenger collection will be produced going forward under the brand name Victorinox.”  This is a critical development in the history of the Swiss Knife.
   
   Considering that Aarau, the first capital of unified Switzerland, lies exactly midway between Delemont and Ibach (the home towns of these two cutleries), the recent decision by Victorinox to end manufacturing of the Wenger brand could threaten to upset the very balance of the Swiss confederation, the oldest republic in the world.  Because neutral Switzerland, as the quiet and steady heart of Europe, “holds the arm of the balance in the middle”, the stability of the entire continent, and thus of world affairs, may thereby be less secure.

   These are precarious times:  Violent changes of government in Arab countries, fundamentalist factions of several stripes, firearms-related tragedies in the USA and elsewhere, economic stresses, nuclear hazards in several zones…  One can only hope that Victorinox, long known for their loyalty to their workers as well as real environmental values, will consider this new arrangement with Wenger fiscally provisional and before long return to an independent if necessarily unequal partnership, each company continuing to produce their excellent knives. 
   
    The Wenger company has always made the more zany tools, Victorinox the more conservative.  Each has tried to out-do the other in one way or another and the competition has been beneficial for product development, and variety, and price.  High Swiss quality and the sheer usefulness of these great pocketknives will surely continue, but as one who depends on and has grown to love the Swiss Army Knife, I hope that somehow the balance of the Swiss knife industry can be restored and we will be able to purchase both the Wenger and Victorinox brands into an otherwise uncertain future.   

[North Man]

yes, well written,
i strongly believe it would be best to uphold the quality when the two brands with their two philosophies continue competing like before, we see this in hard facts from patent databases and ads and the knives we have,
to keep work forces is great but there must be other ways to uphold the work places, the two brands should work together against the fakes from Asia and others, it was mentioned that they in Asia will one day get the same quality like the Swiss, i doubt that unless at a high price, it will be a fight with numbers, it will be made huge numbers of knives to compete with the Swiss, i am not sure it will bring out more quality by Victorinox, it is high like we know but i strongly believe the two Swiss Brands will uphold quality best by fighting eachother but work together against fakes,

[TurkTeen]

Goddbye, Wenger. Thank you for everything.

You only have Victorinox knives. What Wenger
has done for you in the last 13 years? 

Regards

Markus

I thanked Wenger for all MTO members here.

Yes, I don't have a Wenger, it isn't even sold where I live, I DO prefer Victorinox over Wenger, but that doesn't mean I don't respect Wenger.

[North Man]

welcome to the forum TurkTeen

[kirk13]

Goddbye, Wenger. Thank you for everything.

You only have Victorinox knives. What Wenger
has done for you in the last 13 years? 

Regards

Markus

I thanked Wenger for all MTO members here.

Yes, I don't have a Wenger, it isn't even sold where I live, I DO prefer Victorinox over Wenger, but that doesn't mean I don't respect Wenger.

 

[MARIOS7319]

About the post of J Mackrel Jones, is the best analysis I've ever read.
Well written indeed.

Also welcome to the MultiTool.org TurkTeen.
It's nice to see a neighbor here. 

[kkokkolis]

Wow! We can't help discussing this matter over and over again. It socked us, it socked me at least and I wasn't a Wenger fun. Wenger was 10% of Swiss Army Knives for me also but, since Swiss Army Knives are of such great importance even that 10% isn't a negligible amount, on the contrary. The memories of HP acquiring the Holy Palm just to scrap it haunted me. But HP isn't the kind of company Victorinox is. That's why we may continue to hope.

[ICanFixThat]

Some one should have redirected this thread to the original threads a few posts back, now there are 3 threads to follow:

Original: http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,42641.0.html

Genuine: http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,42688.0.html