Victorinox

Tested to the limits

Established in 1884, Victorinox’s original success came through its range of multi-function “Swiss Army” knives, which the company first started supplying to its nation’s armed forces in 1891. Six years later, the design was patented, and ever since the Victorinox name has been synonymous with sleek, practical design. Over the years, the brand’s offering has expanded to include kitchenware, luggage, apparel and even fragrances.

Since 1989, Victorinox has also been making some of the best value-for-money watches on the market, with the INOX becoming its flagship model. Toughness, reliability and intuitive design are all applied to the firm’s collection of timepieces, which offers chunky divers, sleek dress watches and dependable chronographs. The INOX, however, is the attention-grabber.

Founded by Karl Elsener (and named after his mother, Victoria, appended with “Inox”, the technical term for corrosion-resistant stainless steel), Victorinox remains under family management, now in its fourth generation.

At the marque’s watchmaking competence center in Delémont in Switzerland’s Jura Mountains, it works at maintaining a link between the watches and its other creations, most pertinently the multi-function tools. Watches in the Nightvision range, for example, feature a built-in LED flashlight. With all Victorinox timepieces though, the aim is always to explore the use of new technologies and materials, which is why the new INOX Carbon is worth your attention.

“As the makers of the original Swiss Army knife,” says head of product Francois Nunez, “we have obviously mastered stainless steel production. But we are also committed to bringing in innovative materials that translate directly into wearer benefits. Last year, we launched an INOX with a unique sandblasted titanium case, which is both lightweight and hypoallergenic. And very recently, we launched the INOX Carbon, made from a composite material that was initially developed to protect spacecraft from temperatures in excess of 1,260°C when re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. It is 50 per cent lighter than steel and five times harder and, as a result, the watch is particularly resistant to scratches from daily wear.”

Unsurprisingly, Victorinox takes product testing very seriously. The INOX Carbon underwent 130 different homologative trials to ensure its quality levels. “Tests include being run over by a 64-ton main battle tank,” explains Nunez, “being dropped from a 10m platform onto a concrete floor, frozen into a massive ice cube for a week, exposed to conditions endured at 21,300m altitude, and being revolved in a full washing machine for two hours at 90°C. Obviously we do not expect our consumers to go through such negative experiences, but we wanted to make sure that our watches can be worn no matter the circumstances.”

The 43mm carbon composite case houses a Swiss-made Ronda 715 quartz movement and a monobloc face equipped with luminescent hands and indices, as well as military 24-hour time printed in red on an inner dial. Continuing that link to the forces, the strap is made from woven Naimakka paracord, which is normally found in parachute suspension lines and possesses a breaking strength of 250kg. The screen is triple-coated sapphire crystal and the screw-in case back means that the INOX Carbon will function underwater to a depth of 200m. This is a tough watch.

“We believe that it is both the toughness and the design which has made the INOX so popular,” says Victorinox watches CEO, Alexander Bennouna. “As a functional and quality driven design, the structure of INOX watches is robust, but their design is clean and modern; rigorous to the last detail, similar to car and aeronautic engineering. INOX is an authentic combination of design and performance.”

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