Wenger - CH Smith Marine

Wenger’s SWIBO line of professional cutlery is built on the same principals and manufactured to exacting standards of the Swiss Army knife using the best materials available, and employing techniques which continue to set the industry standard.

Wenger might lay claim to being the genunine Swiss army knife, but it was not the first. When the Swiss army decided to give all soldiers a regulation single-blade folding knife in 1886, the knives were produced in Germany. In 1889, a new army rifle meant soldiers needed a screw driver and the Swiss Army Knife was born.... but made in Germany as the local Swiss cutlery industry could not mass produce the knife. This didn't last long though and a swiss knife manufacturing company, today known as Victorinox, soon began to make army knives

By 1908 there were two suppliers of the Swiss army knife. Wenger had been a supplier to the Swiss Army as early as 1893, and its sister-company, Victorinox, since 1890. To avoid friction, in 1908 the Swiss government decided to get half its consignment from each supplier. In any case, both have been manufacturing Swiss Army Knives for over 100 years and both must meet identical specifications defined by the Swiss Army.

Website: http://www.wenger.ch/