Just how many classic's...

[cbl51]

do they make a year?

Of late, I seem to be seeing classic's everywhere. I mean everywhere. Dick's, Academy, Walmart, K-Mart, REI, Orvis, local gun shop, Target, Ace Hardwear, and even smaller mom and pop stores. I see them on keychains of 30 something yuppie females driving Suberu SUV's, working guys in Ford pickups, and grandfathers driving Toyota Camry's down t the fishing spot on the river.

Now I admit being a fan of the littlest SAK, and it's handy to have for those little jobs that pop up, so I may be sensitized to the sighting of one. But in reality, they do seem to be everywhere.

Some years ago, one of the knife magazines ran an article on Victorinox, and the production figures were incredible. Something like 35 million kives a year. Of that, something like 9 million a year were the classic in any of it's color schemes. But that was years ago. Now 9 million units of anything a year is humongous numbers, but soince then I saw an article that Victorinox had invested in even higher speed machinery and upped their output.

Does anyone know, have access to any recent production figures or know a gypsy with a crystal ball, or anything?

I'm curious how many classics a year they make to flood the market with them even with company logo's.

[Spartan19]

I don't know for sure, but I know what you mean about them being everywhere. My mom has had one for 30 years on her keychain, my granddad has one, I have a couple, pretty much the whole family has at least one. They are the day to day lifesaver. My First Swiss army knife was a littlle orange Wenger Esquire that I still have to this day. Great little knives! 

[Ron Who]

I've heard that the Classic is a world wide all time bestseller. Don't know about  numbers though.

[ColoSwiss]

Some Victorinox numbers from about 10 years ago.

Swiss Army knives                        100 models       6 million per year

Other pocket tools                         260 models      7 million per year

Household/professional knives     540 models      13 million per year

Total                                                                       26 million per year

Once saw what the difference was between Swiss Army and other pocket tools, but can't find it in my notes.