Victorinox, the Swiss company that took over production of the Swiss army knife after purchasing Wenger SA in 2005, has attracted a variety of new knife owners by altering the design of the Swiss army knife to satisfy a more modern audience.
An article recently published in Bloomberg discussed the company’s move to new models, some of which are bladeless, and have features like altimeters, temperature gauges and flashlights, alongside more traditional features like screwdrivers and hacksaws.
The popular pen knife, which has a cigar cutter, hole punch and a USB data card, is even used by Pope Benedict and the Dalai Lama.
According to the article, upon taking control of the Swiss army knife, Victorinox immediately began brainstorming a variety of modifications to the traditional Swiss army knife model, including features as unorthodox as an integrated cell phone, an extendible ruler and a small spoon to remove ear wax.
Although those ideas were eventually rejected, the company did produce a $1,200 knife, which has 87 tools, 14 blades, golf tools and a signal whistle and weighs approximately 7 pounds; the knife even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.
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