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Victorinox Astronaut - its the real thing!

us Offline stressmaster5000

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Re: Victorinox Astronaut - its the real thing!
Reply #30 on: May 20, 2009, 08:01:10 PM
I have yet to get an answer from Mr. Elsener in Swiss but personally I feel like the Master Craftsman was the knives bought by NASA in the late 1970's and then when the fame of the new Space Shuttle launches came about in the 1980's, Victorinox changed the name so folks would know which ones the Astronauts were using. It probably didn't hurt sales either to have the name change. Then to add even more sales drawing power they add a Space Shuttle to the scales. All of these knives were Master Craftsman models overlapping 1991 so the Space Shuttle knives had different blade configurations due to new tools being released. Back in 1989 when the Astronaut Commemorative was released I am unsure why they changed to a different model of knife.

I am hoping Mr. Elsener will have some details to answer some questions and suppositions about these NASA related knives.

If you have not been to the SAKWicki.com lately I have added some of the photos to the "Craftsman" model page describing this knife.
Got an email note from Mr. Elsener about this knife. I am hoping he will have more to add, but here are a couple of links on the Victorinox Forum website as to what he had to say.

"thank you very much for your request dated 08th May 2009 and being interested in our pocket tool 1.4773 (astronaut). It matches the model Craftsman and has in addition the metal inlay of an astronaut and an etching regarding the moon landing on the blade. It is a corporate product and produced for the 20th and 30th anniversary (1998)."
Yours sincerely

Victorinox AG

Robert Elsener
Quality manager
A link to this note on the forum web page;
http://www.victorinox.ch/index.cfm?site=victorinox.ch&page=107&lang=F&action=show&for_thema=Sammler&for_page=1&for_msg=20090520160844
Also he included a link to this photo;
http://b2b.victorinox.ch/A219/Astronaut.JPG
The photo is too large to display properly here so click and go to the Victorinox web page for it.


gb Offline Neil

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Re: Victorinox Astronaut - its the real thing!
Reply #31 on: May 20, 2009, 08:47:49 PM
So were there two runs and does the etching on the blade reflect this?
I'm not taking any more mod orders at present, sorry.


us Offline stressmaster5000

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Re: Victorinox Astronaut - its the real thing!
Reply #32 on: May 20, 2009, 08:52:32 PM
Right now, you know as much as I do. I emailed another question to Mr. Elsener about the White version as well as numbers produced. I will keep this thread updated when I get a response.


gb Offline Neil

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Re: Victorinox Astronaut - its the real thing!
Reply #33 on: May 20, 2009, 08:55:35 PM
White version  :ahhh  there's a white version?  Missed that, have you got a link to any pics?
I'm not taking any more mod orders at present, sorry.


us Offline stressmaster5000

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Re: Victorinox Astronaut - its the real thing!
Reply #34 on: May 20, 2009, 09:05:33 PM
White version  :ahhh  there's a white version?  Missed that, have you got a link to any pics?
OK, so maybe I did not mention that before but Dan Jaquart, the president of VSAKCS, told me he has seen or heard of a White version but did not give anymore details about that and no photos either. The note from Mr.Elsener mentions a 30th anniversary model (1998?) and maybe that one is the White one or perhaps they just made another run of the first one at that time, or maybe there was both red and white versions made at the beginning? :ahhh I agree, it sounds all too confusing. I sure wish Victorinox themselves had been running a SAKWicki site all along and had this info on it.


gb Offline Neil

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Re: Victorinox Astronaut - its the real thing!
Reply #35 on: May 20, 2009, 09:12:06 PM
That would have made life easier but perhaps just a little less fun :D  We get to write the Victorinox Chronicles  :tu:
I'm not taking any more mod orders at present, sorry.


us Offline stressmaster5000

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Re: Victorinox Astronaut - its the real thing!
Reply #36 on: May 28, 2009, 06:23:50 PM
I have yet to get an answer from Mr. Elsener in Swiss but personally I feel like the Master Craftsman was the knives bought by NASA in the late 1970's and then when the fame of the new Space Shuttle launches came about in the 1980's, Victorinox changed the name so folks would know which ones the Astronauts were using. It probably didn't hurt sales either to have the name change. Then to add even more sales drawing power they add a Space Shuttle to the scales. All of these knives were Master Craftsman models overlapping 1991 so the Space Shuttle knives had different blade configurations due to new tools being released. Back in 1989 when the Astronaut Commemorative was released I am unsure why they changed to a different model of knife.

I am hoping Mr. Elsener will have some details to answer some questions and suppositions about these NASA related knives.

If you have not been to the SAKWicki.com lately I have added some of the photos to the "Craftsman" model page describing this knife.
Got an email note from Mr. Elsener about this knife. I am hoping he will have more to add, but here are a couple of links on the Victorinox Forum website as to what he had to say.

"thank you very much for your request dated 08th May 2009 and being interested in our pocket tool 1.4773 (astronaut). It matches the model Craftsman and has in addition the metal inlay of an astronaut and an etching regarding the moon landing on the blade. It is a corporate product and produced for the 20th and 30th anniversary (1998)."
Yours sincerely

Victorinox AG

Robert Elsener
Quality manager
A link to this note on the forum web page;
http://www.victorinox.ch/index.cfm?site=victorinox.ch&page=107&lang=F&action=show&for_thema=Sammler&for_page=1&for_msg=20090520160844
Also he included a link to this photo;
http://b2b.victorinox.ch/A219/Astronaut.JPG
The photo is too large to display properly here so click and go to the Victorinox web page for it.
Another e-mail from Mr. Elsener but it does not really clear up any questions. Here it is quoted;

thank you very much for your reply dated 20th May 2009. As you know the «1.4773 astronaut» is a corporate product made by Victorinox. In 1989 it was produced with the metal inlay of an astronaut and an etching regarding the moon landing on the blade.

We suppose that only a tool with the metal inlay of an astronaut has been ordered 10 years later. We did not find any templates for the 30th anniversary and do not have information for a follow-up order.

Unfortunately, we did not find any information about how many were produced or anything about a white scaled version (I do not think it exist).

If there is any further information that you require do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely

Victorinox AG

Robert Elsener
Quality manager


Well, sounds like there was no 30th anniversary model and no white scaled model either. Sure was hoping to hear more about production numbers too. Oh, well. I guess this just makes them that much rarer. Sorry Neil.  :-\
Probably only one run of 2000 were done all in red. I say that since the serial numbers of the 2 I personally know about are in the mid 1000's. Still it is a nice and rare piece.


 

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