Facts wanted on Wenger Porsche design

[tosh]

I've spent the last few days surfing the web trying to find out as much as possible on the Wenger Porsche Design series.

Am I right in thinking that there were just 4 models, five if you count the all black version.

Cigar
Mini Grip
Officers knife
3700???

Is that it??

I can't actually find anything of substance. I know they were released in 2000.

Can anyone bring me up to speed??

[J Mackrel Jones]

Ruthenium !

[tosh]

Ruthenium !

But not real Ruthenium, isn't it zinc painted??

[enki_ck]

I'm guessing the "Officers knife" is the Traveler.

As far as I know, there were:

2 Travelers, regular - 16679
    and black (the black being the 3700 version I think, Porsche Design Edition 1 - P'3700) - 16998
    Cigar Cutter - 16684/1.537.00
    MiniGrip - (don't know the model number)
    Pocket Tool Chest - 16686 

As for the color:

Well, I got the reply from Wenger and here it is: "Regarding our Porsche design Knives, we confirm that the scales are not in ruthenium. The colour of the scales look like ruthenium but they are made of Zinc and coated with titanium colour. Signed Claude Kottelat, Chief Technical Officer."

What do you want to know exactly?

Here's a pic from ColoSwiss of all of them.

[ColoSwiss]

A couple of additions/corrections.

The MiniGrip is called the Porsche Design Multi Tool, and differs from the standard Mini Grip in its tool combination, including a tire-tread gauge. Its number is 16686.

The Pocket Tool Chest is called Porsche Design Executive, and has the number 16685.

The Porsche Design P'3700 was also sold as the Cayman S Special Edition (1.535.00.02).

We maybe need to include these under the Wenger Series.

[Chako]

I never did get the cigar cutter or the black one.

[tosh]

Cheers enki

What do I want to know??

Basically everything there is to know. The Porsche design was typical of Wenger. I'd love to know how it all came about, why they chose those specific models. How much input came from Porsche. How many were actually  made.
 

Lucky Colo...
I've only got three of them, pretty certain I'm in for some fun trying to get the remaining two.

Edit - just seen your post Colo
Good idea to properly document them. There is very very little out there on the web.


Edit II -

Hey Chako
I just bit the bullet and bought the cigar..ouch!! Should be here Saturday   
Now I'm hunting the black version and the officers knife.

Wish me luck!! lol

[ColoSwiss]

I never did get the cigar cutter or the black one.

Peasant! Now you can't light up a Havana while cruising down the autobahn in your Porsche at 180kmp with a good looking blonde beside you.

[enki_ck]

A couple of additions/corrections.

The MiniGrip is called the Porsche Design Multi Tool, and differs from the standard Mini Grip in its tool combination, including a tire-tread gauge. Its number is 16686.

The Pocket Tool Chest is called Porsche Design Executive, and has the number 16685.

The Porsche Design P'3700 was also sold as the Cayman S Special Edition (1.535.00.02).

We maybe need to include these under the Wenger Series.

Karl, are you sure about the numbers on the MiniGrip and the Pocket Tool Chest. If so then they are reversed on the wiki and I need to correct them there.


http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Pocket+Tool+Chest#Identifiers


I agree on the Series page. First place I checked was the Series index. I only found the regular Traveler in the 2009 NA catalog so far. I think the black Traveler version was a 2010 release.


Is the "Officers Knife" the official name for the regular Traveler?


I can make a page for them from info gathered on the forum or if you have the time to write it, I'll code it and set it up.

[ColoSwiss]

Hi Nikola,

The names and numbers I have from a 2003 Wenger catalog (also a 2008 catalog except for the Multi Tool which shows up in the 2006 catalog):

Porsche Design - Original ; 16679 (Traveler)
Porsche Design - Multi Tool ; 16686
Porsche Design - Executive ; 16685 (Pocket Tool Chest)
Porsche Design - Cigar Cutter ; 16684

The knives show up in Wenger catalogs for '03, '04, '06, '08; but not in '01 or '09.

From other sources:

Cayman S Special Edition (1.535.00.02) / Porsche Design P'3700 (16998) (for the black Traveler).

The Cayman S is a Porsche model that was introduced in 2006.

The Multi Tool is listed in the wiki under Pocket Grip, with info but no photo.

Will send some photos later this weekend. Can start with the group photo already shown.

[ColoSwiss]

Here's a write-up for the wiki:


The Porsche Series was one of Wenger's Elite Series and done in conjunction with Porsche's design shop. The knives featured sculptured handles that were originally sold as Ruthenium, but which were actually zinc coated with titanium color. There are four models in the series. The Porsche Design Original (Traveler) was introduced in 2002, with the other three in 2003. The knives were discontinued about 2009. The knives were basically standard models. The Multi Tool was based on the Pocket Grip, but has a different combination of tools.

Quote from: felinevet on September 16, 2009, 10:37:01 PM
Well, I got the reply from Wenger and here it is: "Regarding our Porsche design Knives, we confirm that the scales are not in ruthenium. The colour of the scales look like ruthenium but they are made of Zinc and coated with titanium colour. Signed Claude Kottelat, Chief Technical Officer.


Porsche Design - Original ; 16679 (Traveler)
Porsche Design - Executive ; 16685 (Pocket Tool Chest)
Porsche Design - Cigar Cutter ; 16684
Porsche Design - Multi Tool ; 16686

Around 2006-2008 a special version of the Original was produced with black PVD-coated blades and handles. Known as the Cayman S or P'3700, this was part of an accessory kit that included watch, sunglasses, etc, that was included with the Porsche Cayman S sports car. An undocumented source says 1,000 of the black knives were produced, with over 700 sold with the cars, and the remainder sold by Wenger.

Cayman S Special Edition (1.535.00.02) / Porsche Design P'3700 (16998) (black Traveler)

[basilio]

The following catalog page may be of interest for the european names and identifiers.

[Chako]

I know, I know ColoSwiss, life sucks for moi! 

[enki_ck]

Thanks, Karl. Created.

http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Wenger+Porsche+Design+Series

I made some small changes and included the European names and model numbers. Please let me know if you see any errors or have additional info.

[ColoSwiss]

Looks good!

Here are some additional shots if desired. Might include the Multi Tool with the Pocket Grips, and add the tire tread gauge to the Tools section. Also edit 'needle node' to 'needle nose' under the Pocket Grips.

Under Tools: The tire tread gauge is only found on the Porsche Design Multi Tool and the Giant. It consists of a steel ruler, metric on one side and Imperial on the other, and a sliding metal sleeve to aid in measuring tread depth. The sleeve is also removable for use as a bit extension.

Thanks, Carlo, for the European info.

[enki_ck]

Thanks for the additional pictures and info. I'll make the tool page and make the corrections to identifiers and pages on the PTC and Multi Tool this weekend.

[armèe-suisse]

Mine's with " P'3712 " on the scale different compared to Karl's, a limited numbered? 

[Chako]

[nervium]

sadly, not available in my country, turkey.

[ColoSwiss]

Chako, as always, has better photos than mine.  :face palm:

Noticed that in addition to armee-suisse's P3712, Chako's Multi Tool has a P number (3713?) on the handle. The Cayman S was also known as the P'3700. Apparently there's a subset of these (for a special market?).

[Max Archer]

For what it's worth, Porsche Design and Porsche Automobiles are not the same company and don't share design studios. They have a close relationship though.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

[tosh]

Chako, as always, has better photos than mine.  :face palm:

Noticed that in addition to armee-suisse's P3712, Chako's Multi Tool has a P number (3713?) on the handle. The Cayman S was also known as the P'3700. Apparently there's a subset of these (for a special market?).

That's slightly confusing   
One of mine that was purchased a few months back from an authorised Wenger dealer actually came in a box labeled P3700 but it isn't the black version??

Sounds a little odd??

[ColoSwiss]

Chako, as always, has better photos than mine.  :face palm:

Noticed that in addition to armee-suisse's P3712, Chako's Multi Tool has a P number (3713?) on the handle. The Cayman S was also known as the P'3700. Apparently there's a subset of these (for a special market?).

That's slightly confusing   
One of mine that was purchased a few months back from an authorised Wenger dealer actually came in a box labeled P3700 but it isn't the black version??

Sounds a little odd??

I have an old ad - "Porsche Design P'3700 Wenger Swiss Army Knife", with a picture of a black-coated model. However the ad doesn't mention the black coating.

-------------

Just found an old ad that says the knife is available in black or silver.

http://f5torefresh.com/2010/07/30/porsche-design-x-wenger-p’3700-pocket-knife/

[ColoSwiss]

Here's a photo of a box with Porsche Design Edition One (which is what's on my black version, and a serial number of 001/777.

[ColoSwiss]

And an old Wenger ad for it.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1DR6Hw/www.wengerna.com/porsche-design-p-3700-16998/


Also an old ad for a Cigar Cutter labeled P'3711

http://www.wenger.ro/porsche-design-37-1-537-000-000/index.html


As always with SAKs, the more you get into them, the more confusing they are. Think we need to eliminate the line in the writeup about a thousand black Caymans. Don't know if the 777 figure applied to only black models or to both black and silver models. Also need to add that at one point in the North American market the models were know as P'3711 (Cigar cutter), etc.

[ColoSwiss]

More names from a 2005 Canadian catalog in the wiki (page 10).

http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-browse_gallery.php?galleryId=72

[ColoSwiss]

Here's a rewrite of the last paragraph in the wiki. If anyone has any additional info please let me or Nikola know.

-----------------

Around 2006-2008 a special version of the Original was produced with black PVD-coated blades and handles. Known as the Cayman S or P'3700, this was part of an accessory kit that included watch, sunglasses, etc, and which was included with the Porsche Cayman S sports car. It appears that 777 knife were produced for sale with the cars; with an additional unknown number made for sale by Wenger. Wenger apparently sold both black and silver versions under the P'3700 designation.

Cayman S Special Edition (1.535.00.02 AN) / P'3700 (16998 NA)(black Traveler)

At some point there was a slight change in the handles. The 'Porsche Design' logo was shifted to the left and a P'37** series number added. P'3711 was used for both the silver Traveler/Original and Cigar Cutter; P'3712 for the Executive; and P'3713 for the Multi Tool. This does not appear to have affected the European names or catalog numbers of the knives.

[enki_ck]

Text corrected.

I'll add the pictures a bit later.

[basilio]

Good work on series.
I have to admit that I was never really interested on them, so didn't research them a lot.
After this post, however, I had a look at my catalogs, and I think there are few things to point out:

1. In Europe the Porsche Design 35, 37 and 39 are still listed in the 2010 catalog.
The model 35 "Porsche Design Original" is still listed in the 2011 NA Catalog.
So I would say that the line was probably discontinued later than 2009, around 2011.

2. The European 2010 catalog shows different markings in the handles:
Porsche Design 35     P'3711
Porsche Design 37     P'3714
Porsche Design 39     P'3712

So there seems to be a difference with a model, comparing to the NA market.

[ColoSwiss]

- None are shown in the 2009 European catalog in the wiki.
- The Original is shown in the 2009 North American catalog in the wiki.
- All three knives are shown in a 2009/2010 European hardcopy catalog.

Just realized I have both European and North American hard copy versions of the 2009/2010 catalog. Same cover photo. Only the Original is shown in the NA catalog vs all three in the European catalog.

So change the write-up to "discontinued around 2012".

Here's a photo from a Wenger catalog showing a 37  (Cigar Cutter) with P'3711 on the handle. so I guess eliminate the line in the write-up that lists handle numbers to models.