Question on SAK age (pics inside)

[novice]

What is the approximate age of these SAKs? I found them today at 2 different places. Both have Victoria with the crossbow under the o and that over Officier & Suisse. They are in VG+ or better condition. The larger has Ferrari Zurich engraved on the main blade -

[Mercury]

Beautiful knives!!


AFAIK, the Crossbow and Officier Suisse won't help you date these, as the crossbow was the symbol for quality for years and years and Officier Suisse just means Swiss Officer and is still on all current 91mm knife tangs.  The Awl design, scale and rivet patterns, grooved corkscrew, bail, clip point small blade, and that oh so awesome Marlin spike are telling but I'm not nearly knowledgeable enough to ballpark these.  Someone with more experience is sure to be along soon, I just wanted to see how this ends!

[detron]

old post,  but a start

jazzbass:

Are you positive it has the Victoria and crossbow stamp? And not the standard "Officier Suisse" crossbow stamp? Because if you have a SwissChamp with a Victoria stamp, that means someone at Victorinox found some very old blades when they were making that knife. That would be a very, very unique knife to say the least.

Ah, my mistake. It is the "Officer Suisse" crossbow stamp. Rats! Here I was hoping for something etherial!

That being the case, when was the Officer Suisse crossbow stamp last used?

Thanks for your help!

"Victoria" stamps ended c. 1974. For about a year there was no stamp on the back, then the "Officier Suisse" stamp went from roughly 1975/6-2005. Last year for them was after the switch from 2.4mm to 2.0mm tangs in 2004. So there is one year out there where you can find the older stamp on the newer, "thin tang" blade. Most of the ones I've seen are on Spartan Lites, for whatever reason.

As with anything parts related with Victorinox, left over inventory can create some odd outliers, but these are the generally accepted dates.

[novice]

Here is a pic of the stamp on the back -

[novice]

Remainder of stamps, the Spartan is marked the same -

[jazzbass]

Need close up pictures of the front and rear tang stamps to date with relative precision. The small one looks like a Model 234k (aka Tourist) from c. 1958-1961. The large one is a Champion, Model 246fmaU from c. 1957-1958. A better shot of the saw (both sides, without being obstructed by the other tools) would help.

[detron]

Need close up pictures of the front and rear tang stamps to date with relative precision. The small one looks like a Model 234k (aka Tourist) from c. 1958-1961. The large one is a Champion, Model 246fmaU from c. 1957-1958. A better shot of the saw (both sides, without being obstructed by the other tools) would help.

I am glad you came along   

[novice]

Saw -

[jazzbass]

29 tooth with a nail nick, so I'd estimate that on the 1958 side of things.

[novice]

29 tooth with a nail nick, so I'd estimate that on the 1958 side of things.

Wow, happy dance! Thank you for taking a look.

 

[Huntsman]

Hi Novice,

Those are lovely old knives you lucky sod!!

The Champion is in amazing condition - Look at the liner under the awl and the awl itself
Not a mark - I think that is quite rare.

PS. Welcome to the forum

[novice]

Hi Novice,

Those are lovely old knives you lucky sod!!

The Champion is in amazing condition - Look at the liner under the awl and the awl itself
Not a mark - I think that is quite rare.

PS. Welcome to the forum

Thank you very much. I was pretty surprised at the condition once I really got a look at it. The smaller one is not as nice but still a VG overall.

[Don Pablo]

Nice to meet you novice. You are probably less of a novice than me, looking at your collection. 
Nice knives!
I would feel like I won the lottery if I found them.

Sorry for butting in regarding my brand new Hiker, but it was detron's quote of jazzbass that made me aware of something interesting (to me, I don't know about you.    ).

(snip) then the "Officier Suisse" stamp went from roughly 1975/6-2005. Last year for them was after the switch from 2.4mm to 2.0mm tangs in 2004. So there is one year out there where you can find the older stamp on the newer, "thin tang" blade. Most of the ones I've seen are on Spartan Lites, for whatever reason.

As with anything parts related with Victorinox, left over inventory can create some odd outliers, but these are the generally accepted dates.

My Hiker(did I say it was new?) has that "Officier Suisse" stamp and ALSO a 2mm thick tang (as well as I can measure it). So the blade at least is from '04? 
Are there any other signs I can look for in the rest of the tools to help me determine roughly when it was assembled? I'm quite interested in this.

Thanks! 


Edit: It has "Victorinox-Swiss made-Stainless" on the shield side of the Tang.

[jazzbass]

My Hiker(did I say it was new?) has that "Officier Suisse" stamp and ALSO a 2mm thick tang (as well as I can measure it). So the blade at least is from '04? 
Are there any other signs I can look for in the rest of the tools to help me determine roughly when it was assembled? I'm quite interested in this.

You can use this modern tang stamp guide to help narrow down when your knife was made:

[360BT]

My Hiker(did I say it was new?) has that "Officier Suisse" stamp and ALSO a 2mm thick tang (as well as I can measure it). So the blade at least is from '04? 
Are there any other signs I can look for in the rest of the tools to help me determine roughly when it was assembled? I'm quite interested in this.

You can use this modern tang stamp guide to help narrow down when your knife was made:

(Image removed from quote.)

This picture is very helpful on aging. Is there a picture for older SAK's like from the 1990's.

[jazzbass]

This picture is very helpful on aging. Is there a picture for older SAK's like from the 1990's.

Not for knives in the 90s - those all have the same tang stamp (looks like the 2004-2005 stamp in the picture above). The most consistent way to date a knife from the 90s is look at the cap lifter, scissors, and key ring attachment.

[Huntsman]

Hey 360BT,

You can try this post which has a SAK dating guide based on tool evolution:
http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,51872.msg881641.html#msg881641

There is also the  brilliant SAAMS blog - Google 'saams' , 'swiss army knife' and maybe 'tool'

Also Ulli's brilliant tang stamp guide here:
http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,50014.msg1008991.html#msg1008991

My photo below shows some of the older common tang stamps:
From left to right:

• Smaller V - 1974 - 1986
• Larger V - 1986 - 2005
• Then revert to the picture above for the 'Swiss Made' stamps

PS. Please note I am a real amateur at this compared to many members on this forum (eg Jazzbass, Ulli) so please always revert to them if there is a conflict!! 

[Don Pablo]

You can use this modern tang stamp guide to help narrow down when your knife was made:

(Image removed from quote.)

Thanks Jazz, according to it, my Hiker blade is from '05.  (Because the 'S' of Swiss is not quite under the 'V' of Victorinox, but a little to the right and because of the "Officier Suisse" stamp)

But that still does not tell if it was assembled then or more recently, with older stock?
Is there a way to narrow it down? I'll get pics up this evening, what do you want to see, specifically?


Thanks. 

Edit: The front tang matches with '11, small 'V', large stamp. This is strange. 

Edit edit: pics

[Don Pablo]

Sorry for double post, but basically:

"Officier Suisse" means made between '75-6 and '05.

2mm tang thickness means '04 to present day.

And this means that a blade made in '05 has a 2mm and "Officier Suisse" tang. Am I wrong?

I get this so far, but how does the small 'V' (see above post) fit in all this?

Am I missing something? 

Thanks.

[zoidberg]

Sorry for double post, but basically:

"Officier Suisse" means made between '75-6 and '05.

2mm tang thickness means '04 to present day.

And this means that a blade made in '05 has a 2mm and "Officier Suisse" tang. Am I wrong?

I get this so far, but how does the small 'V' (see above post) fit in all this?

Am I missing something? 

Thanks.

There is more than one (see post above by Huntsman for link) Officier Suisse stamp, yours is 2005 onwards, which makes your SAK 2011 plus.

[jazzbass]

Sorry for double post, but basically:

"Officier Suisse" means made between '75-6 and '05.

2mm tang thickness means '04 to present day.

And this means that a blade made in '05 has a 2mm and "Officier Suisse" tang. Am I wrong?

I get this so far, but how does the small 'V' (see above post) fit in all this?

Am I missing something? 

Yeah, sort of. It can get a little convoluted.

1975-2005 reverse tang stamp was "Officier Suisse" with a crossbow (some people call it an umbrella). This is always paired with the 4 line "Victorinox/Switzerland/Stainless/Rostfrei" front stamp.
2005+ reverse tang stamp is just "Officier Suisse", no crossbow. These are always paired with the three line "Victorinox/Swiss Made/Stainless" front stamps.

In 2004 they switched to 2.0mm tangs from 2.4mm. This means there's a slight overlap where they when to the slimmer tang in 2004 and still used the old style 4 line/crossbow stamp. Then in 2005 they updated the stamp as well, so the vast majority of 2.0mm tang knives have the 3 line/no crossbow stamp.

Small "V"? Well, 75-85 four line stamps have the small "v". 86-05 four line stamps have the large "V". 05-11 three line stamps have the large "V". 2011+ three line stamps have the small "v".

[Don Pablo]

Thanks Jazz and Zoid, thats some great info. 
I have a boring brand new SAK than.   

Thanks again.   

[Mercury]

Thanks Jazz and Zoid, thats some great info. 
I have a boring brand new SAK than. 

Thanks again.   

No SAK is boring!

[J Mackrel Jones]

Another decent source of info is the chronology in The Swiss Army Knife's Owner's Manual, 2011

Hey 360BT,

You can try this post which has a SAK dating guide based on tool evolution:
http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,51872.msg881641.html#msg881641

There is also the  brilliant SAAMS blog - Google 'saams' , 'swiss army knife' and maybe 'tool'

Also Ulli's brilliant tang stamp guide here:
http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,50014.msg1008991.html#msg1008991

My photo below shows some of the older common tang stamps:
From left to right:

• Smaller V - 1974 - 1986
• Larger V - 1986 - 2005
• Then revert to the picture above for the 'Swiss Made' stamps

PS. Please note I am a real amateur at this compared to many members on this forum (eg Jazzbass, Ulli) so please always revert to them if there is a conflict!!