COURSE FOR VICTORY

Victorinox is shaking up its watch offerings and a visit to its Watch Competence Centre in Delémont showed what exactly this entails

- Preetika Mathew

Delémont, the capital of the canton of Jura, is a small town, and even though I visit it on a Monday morning, expecting it to be abuzz at the start of a work week, it is quiet and calm. This, of course, is in contrast to what I witness as soon as I step into Victorinox's Watch Competence Center, a major hub of industrial activity in Delémont. Unlike La Chaux-de-Fonds, where offices of several watch manufacturers lie, Victorinox's Watch Competence Center, part of its larger facilities that manufacture all its other products-the famed Swiss Army Knife, cutlery, travel products, and fragrances-is the only one of its kind in Delémont. It is spread over 17,800 square metres with a building area of 10,850 square metres, and all of Victorinox watches are designed, developed, manufactured, assembled, and tested in-house here. The brand is however headquartered in Ibach, canton of Schwyz.

The name Victorinox is synonymous with the Swiss Army Knife, the multi-purpose all-weather tool that people the world over have come to depend on for different daily activities. And the brand has maintained that monopoly since 1897, when the 'Original Swiss Officer's and Sports Knife, today known as the 'Original Swiss Army Knife™ was patented. The invention of stainless steel in 1913 and its subsequent use in Victorinox's products meant not just a huge boost to the efficacy and lifespan of its products, but also that the brand started building an expertise in it. In fact, its name is a portmanteau of 'Victoria, founder Karl Elsener I's mother, and 'Inox, German for steel. After more than five decades of working with the material, the brand, in 1989, diversified to a product category that felt like a natural fit given its prowess and Swiss roots-watches. The first Victorinox watch collection came about under the brand name Swiss Army, via a collaboration with the brand's former US distribution partner, and was initially only available in North America.