Brief Geneva report

[caninesapien]

Came back from a trip to Geneva last week with a mini-haul from the Vic shop. I was surprised at the prices - they were cheaper than a lot of places I've seen in the UK. The cost of food (and booze) in Geneva knocked me for six so I couldn't quick pick up as many tools as I wanted! I did manage to get a new Tinker for a friend, a red Classic for my father, a 2017 "Space Walk" classic and a Recruit for myself, and my fiancee also picked up a Guacamaya classic for herself. Loving the Recruit so far. Pics to follow!

I saw a LOT of really shoddy-looking knockoff SAKs - looked and felt very cheap, tools were bending(!) as I checked them.

I did pop into another shop near the lake with a great range of Leatherman tools in the window, but a Wave was priced at something like 259CHF!

[Thunderpants]

Yeah, I don't think Geneva is the ideal place for buying Leatherman... They have the "crossing the ocean from the USA" tax, the Swiss tax, the "it's not Victorinox!" tax as well as the "this is Geneva! Of course it's expensive!" tax.

[caninesapien]

Yeah, I don't think Geneva is the ideal place for buying Leatherman... They have the "crossing the ocean from the USA" tax, the Swiss tax, the "it's not Victorinox!" tax as well as the "this is Geneva! Of course it's expensive!" tax.

I figured as much!

[Etherealicer]

Yeah, I don't think Geneva is the ideal place for buying Leatherman... They have the "crossing the ocean from the USA" tax, the Swiss tax, the "it's not Victorinox!" tax as well as the "this is Geneva! Of course it's expensive!" tax.

Nah, its mostly the "I can't be bothered tax"

Stores that actually deal in LM have reasonable prices (mostly due to the prices on the Interweb). But there are many that have bought a couple of LM years ago, put a price on them, then forgot about it. Good part about it, you can get a discontinued LM for a good price. Just go like "Oh, this is not the current model" put it back on the shelf, then say if they didn't sell it for so long, its probably no good

[Syem]

There's quite a few Swiss stores and online-sellers that actually manage to sell cheaper than the official stores. Not talking about special sales on one side or the other...

In Geneva specifically and talking about other knives/multitools, as long as you stay clear of obvious center-of-town shops you can rather easily find acceptable prices for good items.
In the city-center and mostly close to the train station, many "Switzerland" or "Geneva" souvenir-type knives are sadly cheap Chinese crap. Oh the irony... so many Chinese tourists come here and buy overpriced Swiss-labeled Chinese-made knockoffs. There's loads of cheap/crappy watches too.

About the Geneva Victorinox flagship store, there was a "VIP event" there earlier this year and they had 10% off of everything in the store. I bought their last 2017 Damascus Limited Edition for quite a fair price.
They also had an actual Spartan-building-bench and were allowing people to make their own (with the assistance of their expert) for free. I went to buy wood scales and put those on my self-built SAK (which probably has a warranty). It might be slightly out of subject but I just love that place so I couldn't resist sharing this

[firiki]

[...] Oh the irony... so many Chinese tourists come here and buy overpriced Swiss-labeled Chinese-made knockoffs. There's loads of cheap/crappy watches too.
[...]

  Interesting bit of info there! Thank you   

And welcome to the forums   

[caninesapien]

There's quite a few Swiss stores and online-sellers that actually manage to sell cheaper than the official stores. Not talking about special sales on one side or the other...

In Geneva specifically and talking about other knives/multitools, as long as you stay clear of obvious center-of-town shops you can rather easily find acceptable prices for good items.
In the city-center and mostly close to the train station, many "Switzerland" or "Geneva" souvenir-type knives are sadly cheap Chinese crap. Oh the irony... so many Chinese tourists come here and buy overpriced Swiss-labeled Chinese-made knockoffs. There's loads of cheap/crappy watches too.

About the Geneva Victorinox flagship store, there was a "VIP event" there earlier this year and they had 10% off of everything in the store. I bought their last 2017 Damascus Limited Edition for quite a fair price.
They also had an actual Spartan-building-bench and were allowing people to make their own (with the assistance of their expert) for free. I went to buy wood scales and put those on my self-built SAK (which probably has a warranty). It might be slightly out of subject but I just love that place so I couldn't resist sharing this

Wow, would have loved to have had a go at assembling my own!

It was really nice to just wander around the Vic shop, staff were really friendly and not pushy at all. So great to see all the different models (and my fiancee was really interested in the kitchenware!).

And yes, saw a lot of knock-offs in shops right next to the train station - they looked absolutely awful but people seemed quite interested in them, sadly.

[Syem]

They also had an actual Spartan-building-bench and were allowing people to make their own (with the assistance of their expert) for free. I went to buy wood scales and put those on my self-built SAK (which probably has a warranty).

I was there yesterday and asked them... My self-built Spartan actually has no warranty. The blade has a special marking (something like "self-build SAK", I'll have to check) which means that knife will no be services by them (or at least not for free... maybe they would swap the blade out and redo it to their own specs). I got the peening just perfect on my rivets so it's pretty smooth. I saw some other people who actually ended up with rather stiff tools because they went at it too hard. All that plus it's free so it makes sense that they wouldn't give you a warranty.
If I ever get to make a second one I might sacrifice to get that marked blade for a DIY. I should try my hand at that one day I'll take a pic of that blade tonight if I remember.

[Don Pablo]

If only they allowed you to self build something bigger than a Spartan, like a Swisschamp.

What is the cost of an A.I.D(Assemble It Yourself) Spartan as opposed to an Ibach assembled Spartan?

[Syem]

If only they allowed you to self build something bigger than a Spartan, like a Swisschamp.

What is the cost of an A.I.D(Assemble It Yourself) Spartan as opposed to an Ibach assembled Spartan?

It was completely free but it was only as part of this special event. I didn't want to have the red scales they were offering on my self-assembled knife so I bought some wooden ones before finishing the assembly (still took the red ones though ). I do believe however that you can somehow buy a kit and if you go to a specific place (there might be a list) with it they'll let you use the kit to assemble it. Maybe the other side of the main blade has the same engraving as I have on mine.

The "machine" is made to assemble the Spartan. I think they have a different one (or the same with a different configuration) for each knife size (length and thickness). You can see the whole process here:

Here's mine btw (and no, there's nothing on the other side):

[EMZ]

If only they allowed you to self build something bigger than a Spartan, like a Swisschamp.

What is the cost of an A.I.D(Assemble It Yourself) Spartan as opposed to an Ibach assembled Spartan?

It was completely free but it was only as part of this special event. I didn't want to have the red scales they were offering on my self-assembled knife so I bought some wooden ones before finishing the assembly (still took the red ones though ). I do believe however that you can somehow buy a kit and if you go to a specific place (there might be a list) with it they'll let you use the kit to assemble it. Maybe the other side of the main blade has the same engraving as I have on mine.

The "machine" is made to assemble the Spartan. I think they have a different one (or the same with a different configuration) for each knife size (length and thickness). You can see the whole process here:

Here's mine btw (and no, there's nothing on the other side):

(Image removed from quote.)

In october this year I visited the flagship store in Cologne (Köln). Unfortunately Vic doesn't sell the kits anymore.
BTW, prices were fairly high in this flagship store.

[Syem]

In october this year I visited the flagship store in Cologne (Köln). Unfortunately Vic doesn't sell the kits anymore.
BTW, prices were fairly high in this flagship store.

I guess they go for the MSRP... It's often easy to find better prices by digging around a bit.

[an0nemus]

Our government officials get 50% off when they visit the flagship store that's why a lot of them go home with luggages full of SAKs to sell or giveaway here