Swiss Knife Valley

Switzerland is famous for many things: chocolate, cheese, yodelling, mountains. But one of its most international exports is the Swiss Army Knife. We visited the Victorinox Visitors' Centre in the canton of Schwyz (one of the founding cantons of Switzerland) to learn about this quintessentially Swiss product.

On the shores of Lake Lucerne in Brunnen

Part of our visit entailed the assembly of our very own Spartan Swiss Army Knife, one of the best-known models. It was designed by the founder of Victorinox, Karl Elsener in 1897. It has since served as the standard model for the range of officer's knives. We assembled 27 individual parts to complete our Spartans, and then engraved them to make them one-of-a-kind. The blades of our knives say "self-assembled in Brunnen" so they are distinct from a store-bought knife!

Daniel adding the big and small blades onto his knife,
and then hammering and clamping the iconic red cover.

Original blade, engraved knife, and a limited edition Alox knife.