Wenger is one of the two (the other one is Victorinox) brands of Swiss Army knives. Formerly, each company sold its knives to the Swiss Army, in equal quantities. After Victorinox obtained Wenger in 2005, Victorinox became the sole company supplying the Swiss Army with Swiss Army knives.

Victorinox started producing the traditional Swiss Army knives in 1890. In 1893 at Courtetelle in Delémont valley in the French-speaking canton of Jura, the industrial cutlery house of Switzerland, Paul Boechat & Cie received a contract from the Swiss Army to produce knives. A group of entrepreneurs from Delémont bought out Boechat in 1895, and built a new plant at Courtetelle. About two years later Theodore Wenger was hired to be its General Manager. The son of a pastor, Theodore Wenger was a minister who had served in the USA. He decided this calling was not for him, and his Swiss wife was homesick, so he returned to Switzerland. There he learned the world of business in his father-in-law's cloth trade. After a few years he applied for a job at Courtetelle.

One of Wenger's first acts was to acquire a manufacturer of spoons and forks which he moved to a rented factory in Delemont. Then in 1900 he built a new 18,000 square foot facility there. Both the utensil operations and the Courtetelle cutlery production were incorporated into the new plant now called Fabrique Suisse de Courtetellerie at Services. A few years later Wenger acquired Fabrique Suisse, renamed it Wenger et Cie. and shepherded its growth for the next forty years.

In 1908 the Swiss army decided to split the contract, with half the order going to Victorinox, in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and the other half to a firm run by rival cutlery maker Theodore Wenger, headquartered in Delémont in the French-speaking Jura. They claim they did this in the interest of national harmony, but they may have also figured a little competition would keep the price down. By mutual agreement, Wenger advertises as the "Genuine Swiss Army Knife" and Victorinox uses the term the "Original Swiss Army Knife".

In addition to Swiss Army knives, Wenger sells watches under the Wenger and Swiss Military brands. These should not be confused with the Wegner Watch Company which resides in Quebec, Canada and sells watches using the Cardinal and Wegner brands. In Canada, due to trademark conflict, all watches are sold under the trademark Swiss Military. Wenger also produces kitchen knives under the brand names of SWIBO and Grand-Maître and scissors under the Swissors name. In North America, Wenger markets a line of stylish luggage, briefcases, bookbags, and personal products, in addition to its other products.

Wenger has been owned by Victorinox since 26 April 2005.

External links

• The official Wenger site
• Wenger, North America site
• Wenger Watch Info

Companies of Switzerland | Mechanical hand tools | Knife manufacturing companies | Wenger | Wenger SA