Wenger

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Categories: Companies of Switzerland | Mechanical hand tools | Knife manufacturing companies | Victorinox | Watchmakers

This article mentions the Swiss Army Knife. For the Arsenal FC manager see Arsène Wenger.

A Wenger Swiss Army knife

Wenger is one of the two companies that make Swiss Army knives. Based in Delémont, Wenger was acquired by rival Victorinox in 2005.^[1]

1 Early History
2 Modern History
3 Other Products
4 References
5 External links

Early History

In 1893 at Delémont in the French-speaking Canton of Jura, the industrial cutlery house of Jupiter Paul Boechat & Co received a contract from the Swiss Army to produce knives. In 1898, Theodore Wenger was hired to be its manager and later renamed the company Wenger & David.

One of Wenger's first acts was to acquire a manufacturer of spoons and forks which he moved to a rented factory in Delemont. In 1900 a new 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m²) facility was built. Both the utensil operations and the Courtetelle cutlery production were incorporated into the new plant now called Fabrique Suisse de Courtetellerie et Services.

In 1908 the Swiss army decided to split the contract, with half of the order going to Victorinox, in the German-speaking canton of Schwyz, and the other half to Wenger in the French-speaking canton of Jura. They claim they did this in the interest of national harmony, but they may also have been interested in fostering competition.

Modern History

In 1929, after Theo Wenger's death, Kaspar Oertli gained majority share in the company.
In 1986, the factory was modernized following a factory fire.
In 1988, Wenger started producing watches.
In 2005, Victorinox obtained Wenger. Wenger are advertised as the "Genuine Swiss Army Knife" and Victorinox as the "Original Swiss Army Knife".
In 2005, Wenger introduced Evolution, a series of Swiss Army Knives with ergonomic handles. This was dubbed the "first design change to the red-handled Swiss Army Knives since their inception".
In 2007, Wenger introduced EvoGrip, ergonomically-shaped Swiss Army Knives with rubber inserts to improve grip and safety.

Other Products

In addition to Swiss Army knives, Wenger also sells watches. In Canada, due to a trademark conflict with the Wenger Watch Company, all Wenger watches are sold under the trademark Swiss Military, elsewhere they are branded Wenger.

Wenger also produces kitchen knives under the brand names of SWIBO and Grand-Maître and scissors under the Swissors name.

In North America, licensed products using the Wenger and SwissGear trademarks are owned independently from Victorinox SA, and are used to market camping equipment (particularly tents and sleeping bags), luggage, backpacks and office/business needs.