Wenger
  • Wenger
  Wenger is one of the two official suppliers of Swiss Army Knives. In 1980 Victorinox started producing the traditional Swiss Army knives and in 1893 the industrial cutlery house of Switzerland Paul Boechat & Cie received a contract from the Swiss Army to produce knives. A group of entrepreneurs from Delemont bought the Boechat out in 1895 and added at the Courtetelle. Two years later Theodore Wenger was hired to be its General Manager, being the son of a pastor, Theodore Wenger was a minister who served for the USA. He decided it was not for him and his Swiss wife was homesick so he went back to Switzerland. He learned the world of business in his father-in-law’s cloth trade then after a few years he applied for a job at Courtetelle.


One of Wenger first step was to manufacture spoons and forks where he moved to rent a factory in Delemont. In 1900 he builds 18,000 square foot facility there. Both the utensil operations and the Courtetelle cutlery production were included into the new plant called Fabrique Suisse de Courtetellerie at Services. Few years later Wenger attained Fabrique Suisse and named it Wenger et Cie and guided its growth for the next forty years.

Item#: 70973
 

Item#: 70476

Then in 1908 the Swiss army decided to part the contract with the half of the order going to Victorinox, and the other half to a run by a rival cutlery maker Theodore Wenger headquartered in Delemont. They apparently did this in the interest of national harmony but they could have realized a little competition would keep the prices down. With a mutual agreement Wenger advertised itself as “Genuine Swiss Army Knife” while Victorinox used the term “Original Swiss Army Knife”. Being part of Swiss Army knifes, Wenger also sell watches under the Wenger and Swiss Military brands. In North America, Wenger markets a line of stylish luggage, book bags, personal products, briefcases and other products. Most recently Wenger has been taken over and owned by Victorinox since 26 April 2005.

Within our collection Jewelry Vortex holds quite a few different Wenger watches suitable for both men and women.