Victorinox smarsmurfch

[Reinier]

Don't know if this has been posted before, but Carl Elsener mentioned a Victorinox smarwatch in an interview: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0MY1LF20150407?irpc=932

[Corwyn]

What's a "Victorinox"?
Is this the same company that can't make a 250 Euros lighter that can work better than a 10 Cents BIC or that can't make a 35 Euros flashlight to work better than a Chinese 1 Euro LED light?

Seriously... stick with knives guys.. you make them well and you make them since forever. If I want a spaceship I'll call NASA...

[Syph007]

The smart watch is the next gadget no-one needs and has a limited market. 

Make more knives and some new Vic tools for new Vic models!

Also hire me!

[Reinier]

I like how the word filter smurfed up the thread title

[Reinier]

Oh I agree with you guys. I don't see the point of smartwatches. But I said the same about tablets years ago and so far I've had several of those 

But Corwyn, Victorinox never made a 250 euro lighter. Yes it was flawed (or useless) and too expensive, but it was never that expensive. Except now that every collector wants one and that's not Vic's fault

[Etherealicer]

if the wristband is compatible with the LM Thread then I'm all in



I loved my "smarsmurfch" from Casio as a child, with calculator, notes, calendar and such, so I'm not totally opposed to the idea of sMARSmurfch, but battery life needs to improve dramatically. I'm not even opposed to a Victorinox smarsmurfch, maybe they make a partnership with an electronics company. But I'm scared its going to be a total failure.

[danilo]

The smart watch is the next gadget no-one needs and has a limited market. 

Make more knives and some new Vic tools for new Vic models!

... or old ones, Yeoman anyone?

[firiki]

if the wristband is compatible with the LM Thread then I'm all in



I loved my "smarsmurfch" from Casio as a child,

  Not that Leatherman *censored* again!  Say, isn't there a law over there specifying that Casio smurfches have to be Swiss made 

Seriously... stick with knives guys.. you make them well and you make them since forever. If I want a spaceship I'll call NASA...

My thoughts exactly. I must say I'm a little annoyed by the turn Victorinox seem to have taken towards trying to be a lifestyle brand. I fear they might end up flawing their main product's (SAK) quality; that's what I say to myself to keep hoarding them

[Corwyn]

But Corwyn, Victorinox never made a 250 euro lighter. Yes it was flawed (or useless) and too expensive, but it was never that expensive. Except now that every collector wants one and that's not Vic's fault

Got carried away  I never knew how much it cost new - I just got a SwissFlame for 25 Euros.
Still I did see NIB SwissFlames going for over 150 Euros. I's imagine Campflame or XXLT going for much more...

[Gareth]

Well, we all know what a runaway success the Swiss Beat was.....

[sawman]

I'm with the general consensus that they'll smurf it up

[Etherealicer]

Well, we all know what a runaway success the Swiss Beat was.....

Hey Swiss Beat is awesome... seriously, Beat from Switzerland

[kirk13]

What's a "Victorinox"?
Is this the same company that can't make a 250 Euros lighter that can work better than a 10 Cents BIC or that can't make a 35 Euros flashlight to work better than a Chinese 1 Euro LED light?

Seriously... stick with knives guys.. you make them well and you make them since forever. If I want a spaceship I'll call NASA...

...and if NASA need a pocket knife,they go to Victorinox

[Etherealicer]

Seriously... stick with knives guys.. you make them well and you make them since forever. If I want a spaceship I'll call NASA...

My thoughts exactly. I must say I'm a little annoyed by the turn Victorinox seem to have taken towards trying to be a lifestyle brand. I fear they might end up flawing their main product's (SAK) quality; that's what I say to myself to keep hoarding them

No, SAK's they produce for advertisement... The rest they do to earn money. I think the diversification helped a lot after 9/11 and the drop in knife sales. For this reason I wish them all the best in every other product and so they can produce nice SAK's for many years to come.

[Corwyn]

Seriously... stick with knives guys.. you make them well and you make them since forever. If I want a spaceship I'll call NASA...

My thoughts exactly. I must say I'm a little annoyed by the turn Victorinox seem to have taken towards trying to be a lifestyle brand. I fear they might end up flawing their main product's (SAK) quality; that's what I say to myself to keep hoarding them

No, SAK's they produce for advertisement... The rest they do to earn money. I think the diversification helped a lot after 9/11 and the drop in knife sales. For this reason I wish them all the best in every other product and so they can produce nice SAK's for many years to come.

I agree on the watch, bags, clothes lines. They are made externally, rebranded and they get their money out of the trademark fees.
For electronics though? Would you fly in a plane where the lights, jet engine, radio system and now the computer carry the Victorinox name?

[Etherealicer]

Seriously... stick with knives guys.. you make them well and you make them since forever. If I want a spaceship I'll call NASA...

My thoughts exactly. I must say I'm a little annoyed by the turn Victorinox seem to have taken towards trying to be a lifestyle brand. I fear they might end up flawing their main product's (SAK) quality; that's what I say to myself to keep hoarding them

No, SAK's they produce for advertisement... The rest they do to earn money. I think the diversification helped a lot after 9/11 and the drop in knife sales. For this reason I wish them all the best in every other product and so they can produce nice SAK's for many years to come.

I agree on the watch, bags, clothes lines. They are made externally, rebranded and they get their money out of the trademark fees.
For electronics though? Would you fly in a plane where the lights, jet engine, radio system and now the computer carry the Victorinox name?

Yes, but Victorinox owns more brands than just Victorinox (and Wenger). Maybe they will release it under their watchbrand?
We also don't know if they partner with someone. Switzerland is a hot-spot for hight-tech/electronics development (although I get the slight inkling it biased towards audio electronics). But there is a good reason why companies like Google have research centers in Switzerland, so let hope they have a smart partner .

Anyway, I miss my Tetris-watch . I see a good future for smarsmurches because they can do lots of things that a smartphone just can't do as well (e.g. activity-/pulse- tracking). However, like smartphones they have a limited lifespan and short generation times.
I like to ogle the Pebble "not that smart"-watch from time to time. At 90$ its cheap compared to lots other watches and it has some really neat functions. I kinda want one, just didn't get around buying one

[firiki]

Seriously... stick with knives guys.. you make them well and you make them since forever. If I want a spaceship I'll call NASA...

My thoughts exactly. I must say I'm a little annoyed by the turn Victorinox seem to have taken towards trying to be a lifestyle brand. I fear they might end up flawing their main product's (SAK) quality; that's what I say to myself to keep hoarding them

No, SAK's they produce for advertisement... The rest they do to earn money. I think the diversification helped a lot after 9/11 and the drop in knife sales. For this reason I wish them all the best in every other product and so they can produce nice SAK's for many years to come.

I agree on the watch, bags, clothes lines. They are made externally, rebranded and they get their money out of the trademark fees.
For electronics though? Would you fly in a plane where the lights, jet engine, radio system and now the computer carry the Victorinox name?

I'm not sure whom you're asking, Corwyn. All I can say is I mistrust electronics; I think you can draw some conclusions from that (e.g. firiki is a technophobic caveman, firiki doesn't care if electronic devices are Victorinox branded, firiki thinks not even those Ibach wizzards are infallible) 


Etherealicer, I understand that other merchandise helped Vic recover from sales decrease and in fact I thought it was both a clever and a brave move on their part. However, I see all the things they churn out and I can't help thinking that maybe they'll end up elitist and therefore lose the appeal they have today, along with many of their customers. I just remembered an umbrella priced at +200€! As if I didn't already have trouble liking most of their non-SAK offerings, not out of prejudice but because of my tastes and needs -I'm still waiting to see a good messenger bag from Vic- I find such pricing is annoying. For that much bread the umbrella needs to be literally bomb-proof, you see.


As for the actual topic, I think Victorinox need to predict the future to come up with a smarsmurfch that won't be obsolete in a couple of years. That's the real challenge, otherwise all that money spent on product development will be wasted and the brand's prestige will have a speck on it. 

[Syph007]

The coolest watch I had was when I was a kid in the 80s.



Playing pacman in class ruled and was very high tech for the 80s.

In university I had a watch with a universal remote.. that ruled for messing with tvs in stores and bars. 

[Etherealicer]

The coolest watch I had was when I was a kid in the 80s.

(Image removed from quote.)

Playing pacman in class ruled and was very high tech for the 80s.

In university I had a watch with a universal remote.. that ruled for messing with tvs in stores and bars.

That is a serious 80s cool kid watch

[kkokkolis]

Why those digital boom watches of the '80s aren't made any more? A friend of mine had a Casio with calculator. I had another, I think it was MBO with several alert tones (including Xmas tree and Happy Birthday for the respective days), heads or tails (helping to solve difficult life dilemmas), two dices (for when dice were lost in backgammon games) and a few extras I can't remember. Together with Atari they were the summit of kids technology those days.

[Etherealicer]

Why those digital boom watches of the '80s aren't made any more? A friend of mine had a Casio with calculator. I had another, I think it was MBO with several alert tones (including Xmas tree and Happy Birthday for the respective days), heads or tails (helping to solve difficult life dilemmas), two dices (for when dice were lost in backgammon games) and a few extras I can't remember. Together with Atari they were the summit of kids technology those days.

Casio does: CASIO DBC-32-1AES

[anditsgone]

What's a "Victorinox"?
Is this the same company that can't make a 250 Euros lighter that can work better than a 10 Cents BIC or that can't make a 35 Euros flashlight to work better than a Chinese 1 Euro LED light?

Seriously... stick with knives guys.. you make them well and you make them since forever. If I want a spaceship I'll call NASA...

I agree, stop with all the crap.
A watch okay, clothes where is this going?, fragerance is this knife related? and traveling lugagge mkay?

But there is a  bright side to that, last week i read an article that explainend why victrinox survived 9/11.
After 9/11 sales on knifes dropped 40 percent.

All the other crap saved this great company from bankruptcy, Wenger on the other hand

[Serena]

I really like smart watches. Had a Pebble at first, now wearing an Apple Watch. It's so easy to not have to pull out your phone everytime it buzzes.

[jekostas]

Will it have a bottle opener?  It needs to have a bottle opener.