Elsener, born in Ibach, joined the family firm at 17 as the second world war began. He succeeded his father as chief executive at the age of From then on the versatile knives, hitherto made individually by hand, were mass-produced without a noticeable decline in quality. Under him the number of tools available in many versions of the knife grew exponentially.
To the basic items were variously added a saw, a toothpick, tweezers, a magnifying glass, scissors, pliers, spoon, fork, compass, USB memory stick, digital clock and even an MP3 player. In addition to surreal jokes about extracting boy scouts from horses' hooves or vice versa , there were tales of how the knives were carried by famous explorers, including Everest climbers and American astronauts, who took it to the moon.
Sometimes macabre stories did the rounds of emergency self-amputations and life-saving tracheotomies. Victorinox opened factories in several countries and reached high production levels with a nine-figure annual turnover.
Elsener, a committed Christian, never made a worker redundant, even when taking over Wenger. He would often be mistaken for a janitor when he opened the door to visitors in his overalls. Visitors to the Victorinox headquarters in Ibach, in the canton of Schwyz, the cradle of the 13th century Swiss Confederation which continues today, were often greeted by a kindly, elderly man in blue workers' overalls who showed them around.
Only later did they learn that he was the CEO and grandson of the founder. His grandfather, widely known as Charles, had opened a cutlery business in Ibach in , partly to create employment at a time when many young Swiss were emigrating to the New World. In the company won its first contract with the Swiss army, which had previously bought German-made knives.
After the founder's mother died in , he chose her name, Victoria, as his trademark; in it became Victorinox to reflect the use of stainless steel in the product. Grandson Carl III joined the company as an apprentice cutler in straight out of school, taking over as chief executive from his own father in when the knives were still made by hand.
After introducing machine production, he quickly recognised the popularity of his Offiziersmesser [Officer's Knife] among US army, navy and air force personnel based in post-war Europe. It was the Americans who, unable or unwilling to get their tongues round Offiziersmesser, first called it the Swiss Army Knife. It was extremely robust, but also quite heavy and Karl Elsener therefore designed a different model for officers that was lighter and more elegant, to which he added a corkscrew.
The idea of a multi-functional tool was born. Legal aspects Project to strengthen the label Swissness Certification marks Sign of identification of the producer. Buying counterfeits? Selling counterfeits? Help us to fight! Monthly exports Publication schedule.
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