Only the strong survive

The tour began in the town fire station — a curious beginning to a press tour for a watch brand but an interesting one, nonetheless.

Victorinox had taken journalists from all over the world to Ibach, Switzerland, the town where the humble but eventually world-conquering swiss knife was initially conceptualized. On their 130th anniversary, the swiss knife is still the iconic product Victorinox is most known but today, they’ve got something else on the mind altogether.

Lately, they’ve become a formidable watch brand in their own right, making a name for themselves in the watch world. 2014 also marks the 25th anniversary of the watchmaking brand Victorinox Swiss Army. To celebrate the 130th and 25th milestones, Victorinox Swiss Army has announced a partnership with the Fire Department City of New York and also with the Swiss fire unit of Ibach, the city of the company’s headquarters.

This was the purpose of our trip, the worldwide launch of their I.N.O.X. watch — a new piece that promises the quality and functionality of their signature swiss knives with the pomp and polish of the watch world, and the partnership.

“I worked in that house for 25 years,” Victorinox CEO Carl Elsener later tells us, referring to the fire house. Before he worked and eventually took over the family business, Elsener was just a young man trying to contribute to society by serving the town as a fireman.

Daniel Betschart, the officer from Victorinox’s fire department, said in a previous statement, “Time is not on our side, it’s our enemy. Everything that can help bringing it under control becomes a fire fighter’s friend.” It’s only fitting then that this partnership is announced as the I.N.O.X. —perhaps the strongest watch on the market — is launched.

The toughest on the block

“I think the challenging part,” explains Victorinox Timepiece Division CEO Alexander Bennouna in a group interview with journalists ranging from Japan to Australia, “was we tried to take our inspiration from the swiss army knife. If we want to be successful with our timepieces, we have to be authentic to who we are, what we stand for, and where we’re coming from.” This is where the I.N.O.X. comes in.

The journey started two years ago — a lot longer, he admits, than most watches. “The development normally takes two to three months. With this, it took us two years.” An early stumbling block came when they realized that the traits the swiss army knife stands for—quality and functionality—was common in the timepiece industry.

“It’s not really a point of differentiation,” he says. “We’ve been struggling with that for years and years and years. So we tried to refine the quality. We tried to refine the functionality,” he says. “If you look at the design of our collection, you will see that it’s a purpose-driven design. There aren’t any aesthetic details that are there just to make the timepiece look beautiful. Military engineering is a good source of inspiration because everything has to be straight to the point and information has to be accessible — which is critical in operation mode etc.”

They put the engineering team around the product and tried to challenge each other: “What does it really mean to have the quality of Victorinox when it comes to a timepiece?” And so they engineered the watch, tested it, worked on it again, tested it some more, and so on and so forth. In the end, you get a timepiece that might just be the toughest on the market. Victorinox has subjected the I.N.O.X. to 130 grueling tests, everything from a sandstorm to two hours in a washing machine.

“It was everything,” Bennouna says. “When we were talking about pressure, we thought about the heaviest engineering we could think about, in terms of pressure. And that’s the reason why the development of this timepiece took us two years. “

In the fire station, Jorge Guerrero, a local blogger and journalist (“a friend of the brand,” he says) moonlighted as our tour guide, taking us through the four different tests the INOX watch went through. The first was the vibration test, where the watch was tested against the pressure from intense vibration. The “clock sheep test” came after. Most watches are said to generally not pass this test the first time but the INOX impressed early on when it passed right off the bat. “INOX can take it over and over and still work,” Jorge explained.

The third was something more domestic — the washing machine test. “The washing machine (test) is a very good example because I’m sure it happens to all of you,” Bennouna said later. “You put your jeans in the washing machine. You leave your watch in the pocket… It all comes from a practical experience.” The tests lasts for two hours, about the same time as the usual cycle of clothes.

Finally, the fourth test involves driving over the watch with an actual fire truck. And it was impressive that despite a 64-ton truck driving over the watch again and again, it survived largely unscathed.

Made from solid steel with a single sealed piece for a dial, the I.N.O.X. be available in black, khaki, green and navy blue shades. The watch features “a scratch-resistant, anti-reflective sapphire crystal that’s set below the bezel for shock absorbency.” In a competitive market, it’s priced reasonably, with a Swiss-made Ronda quartz movement that promises to keep ticking for a few generations. And while those features sound heavyweight, the watch itself is comparable to the other watches on the market—which only makes its strength and durability more impressive. The word “Inox” is derived from the French word for stainless steel, which makes sense given the watch’s predilection for punishment.

“For us it’s really important that when we integrate new product, it is done in a clever way and we offer our customers functions,” Elsener explains.

“I’d like to share with you an example, years ago… One of these customers wrote us that he has sunglasses and normal glasses and always has to take off the small screws. And he had suggested that we take off the toothpick and replace the toothpick with a small metal piece that would fit to adjust these small screws… I went to my engineering department and they said, we cannot replace the toothpick. We need the toothpick everyday. Then I asked them, if we cannot replace the toothpick, you need to come up with a clever way to integrate it in our swiss army knife. And so we had this new functional useful feature with no additional space but it goes every well with the corkscrew.”

Their process, he explains, is still very much community-based and community-oriented. They’re an empire that functions like a small business, perhaps a result of making it a point to staying true to their roots and keeping in faith with the town they started in.

All in the family

“I think the main reason why Victorinox has been successful over so many years is on one side, the product but on the other hand, also the culture,” Carl Elsener tells us, during a sit-down interview. “We are a family business, a family company and we don’t think in quarters. We try to think in generations in the long term… The founder of our company, my great grandfather, for him quality was always very important. So until today, the quality and functionality of our product is most important and we try to also cultivate and keep the culture of our company. But on other side, we try to keep open to the development of the work.”

The family’s approach to running a family business is unusual but as their 130th anniversary is proving, very effective. Elsener claims that they don’t look at the company, the building, or even the machines as theirs. “During an inheritance, the company is not weakened financially. Because family members [usually] take out a lot of the money,” he says. “Today, our family has no means to take out reserves from the company. The money is earned by the company stays in the company for the long term sustainable growth…. The long term of the company is more important.”

“I had the privilege to work with my father for 34 years in the same office. And he told me many, many times that the company that wants to be in the long term in the business needs basically to focus on three things: on your employees, on your customers, and on your product. He told me that if you do everything possible and put all your passion and energy to motivate your people and make your customers happy, make them satisfied customers, and make everything possible in making sure the quality and functionality of your product is right, then you are in the right track. And not much can go wrong.”

Later that evening, at a celebration for the members of the press in Victorinox headquarters, that humility and roundedness was palpable. Unlike a lost of powerful men, Elsener was very much one of the people. He walked around and chatted up guests, thanking them for coming and inviting them to try certain dishes. “As CEO of this company, I think it’s a strong advantage to be and to run a family company—especially if you have a family where everybody’s supporting of each other and the base is mutual trust and respect,” he says.

The next 130 years

Still, for a company that’s survived wars and revolutions, social movements and the rise and fall of pop stars, the next 130 years of Victorinox is something to think about. While the swiss army knife will prove to be forever relevant, the advent of the digital age raises questions about the watch brand’s lifeline.

“This to us is a very interesting challenge,” Bennouna. “And in the watch industry, obviously, there’s a big debate over should we go digital, should we not go digital, what about smart watches, what about other functionalities you can find on electronic devices, and so on. The fact that we are launching a timepiece that is an ultimate statement of quality is somehow an indirect response to that. Because the digital industry is based on the idea of planned obsoleteness.”

He continues, “Mobile phone? You will use it for years and it will end up in the dust bin. A timepiece? A swiss army knife? You will keep it and eventually you will pass it on to your children. It’s a different relationship…. For us, for Victorinox, it was very, very important for us to reinforce commitment to quality — which does not mean that we do not want to explore other features and other functions than time measurements. The world is changing. Habits are changing.”

Still, some things never change. And with their commitment to detail, quality, and good design, the 260th anniversary of Victorinox is inevitable.