Maneuvers. Military. Frequently, armies that win. company focus

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1 Military By Daniel B. England Maneuvers Frequently, armies that win know who they are, what they re fighting for and what victory looks like. There is a sense of passion about their mission, and their generals are not easily distracted. Such a description could easily apply to Victorinox Swiss Army which is not an army at all, of course, but an organization that is making remarkable incursions behind consumer lines. The offices of Victorinox Swiss Army (VSA), though, could scarcely be less militaristic. Newly relocated in Monroe, Connecticut, VSA has just tucked into a purpose-built building that serves as its headquarters as well as distribution, customer service and repair facility. Employees glide around in blue jeans and polos. Reversing traditional configurations, the executive offices form the inner core so more workers get to enjoy the light and the bucolic views of the company s 26-acre site. The interior is natural stone, SEPTEMBER 2007INTERNATIONAL WATCH

2 The Chrono Classic With a returning president and a new U.S. headquarters, Victorinox Swiss Army continues its advance into sporty watch territory khaki and brushed stainless steel, punctuated occasionally with accents of the distinctive red of their instantly recognizable logo. Employees are encouraged to use the on-site gym and to stroll the grounds. So what is it that draws together a fierce desire to win in the marketplace with the easy confidence of a company taking the long view? What is the integrating factor that infuses tradition into every product but allows for a remarkable level of innovation in watches and other products? The answer is a single word: Brand. Okay, so brand is important to all companies. But at VSA, brand is not something they are looking for or establishing or becoming. It is something they are. So selfaware, so self-confident is VSA in the nature and distinctiveness of its brand that the whole organization is as solid and reliable as one of its knives, even when it comes to making and marketing watches. Rick Taggart is the new President of VSA, Inc. sort of. He headed the company once before ( ) and now has been wooed back to Connecticut from a successful foray into entrepreneurship in Colorado. Since his last time in office, he s noticed a change. The brand has evolved. It still maintains its practical-luxury position that combines value and quality but it has undergone a natural evolution in price points and distribution strategy, he explains. With his soft-spoken confidence, he seems to epitomize the very customers Swiss Army appeals to. We know precisely who our customers are. They are confident, independent-thinking individuals who want value, classic styling and who appreciate innovation. Or as Renee Hourigan, the senior manager of public relations and advertising, put it, Swiss Army watches are cool without being trendy. The point is, we don t have to create anything because authenticity is at the roots of the brand. Brand roots Those roots reach back all the way to 1884 when Karl Elsener opened his cutlery business in Ibach, Switzerland. In 1891, he became the official supplier to the Swiss Army with his famous soldier s pocketknife. But it was a more elegant officer s model, with only two springs and six tools, that became the ingenious forerunner of modern Swiss Army knives. Today, the company employs 1,600 people and manufactures 25 million knives a year. (Victorinox is a combination of Victoria, Elsner s mother, and the French word for stainless steel, acier inoxydable, abbreviated inox). Not until 1989 did Swiss Army Brands develop a range of Swissmade watches, but since then it has never looked back. In the U.S. the watches went under the banner Swiss Army, but in the rest of the world they were branded Victorinox Swiss Army. Now that s all become one. Almost. INTERNATIONAL WATCHSEPTEMBER

3 Swiss Army has acquired the Wenger brand, which also has a red logo with a cross, though it is slightly different. Wenger has a more modest price point and its distribution strategy is to be less exclusive and more ubiquitous. It really doesn t make sense to make it all one at this point, Taggart said. I see Victorinox and Wenger being complementary rather than overlapping. What s next? I see progress in our products continuing along the paths we ve established. But I think you ll see even greater innovation in our lines, especially where technology, design and material science allow for greater creativity. I think ergonomics will become increasingly important. We will pay special attention to the $500-$1,500 range. We have had a very good response to our limited-edition products in the $1,200 to $1,500 range. The market seems to want us to expand that, he said. So important is this brand consciousness that the new offices, with their textures, colors and swaths of green acreage, are an exercise of surrounding employees with the brand. By all accounts, the two hundred Connecticut employees love it, and are as fiercely loyal to their employer as the Swiss are to neutrality. Assembly at Swiss Army s facility in Porrentruy, Switzerland The products Traditionally, VSA has produced watches in the $200 to $600 range. But when they took a look, they found that the $500 to $1,500 range was not crowded SEPTEMBER 2007INTERNATIONAL WATCH

4 The Vivante Right: Convoy Chronograph and it offered a significant opportunity. Their Ambassador line is one of their fastest-growing offerings in the $525-$1,395 range. This spring, the firm launched three new models. The Chrono Classic is a sleek, medium-size quartz chronograph with a blue dial and bezel with gold-tone subdials or a deep, rich brown dial and bezel that they say delivers casual sophistication. The Vivante line is a collection designed exclusively for women, this year with three new rectangular styles including polished numbers on a guilloché-stamped dial in charcoal gray or pink mother-of-pearl, all protected with an antireflective sapphire crystal. Swiss Army is paying more attention to women than ever before. The Convoy chronograph described as functional ruggedness features an oversize 30-minute subdial totalizer in a contrasting tone. For fall 2007, look for the Alpnach, named for the Swiss Air Force s Cougar helicopter base. It s an oversize chronograph with large brushed steel numerals and hands and a minutes scale on the bezel. Driven by the automatic ETA Valjoux 7750 providing 46 The Convoy 3-Hand INTERNATIONAL WATCHSEPTEMBER

5 Two versions of the Alpnach Chronograph. Right: The SSC Ladies hours of power reserve, it has the ability to display quarter-second time measurements for up to 12 hours on the dial. This model builds on the popularity of the Airboss Mach series. The sport classic look is found in the SSC Collection with an engraved Clou de Paris pattern around the bezel and crown and on the chronograph pushers. It also features a silver version of the famous red logo (based on an old Elsener family crest) that inspired some serious soul-searching when it was first proposed. Now the silver logo is a well-accepted alternative to the red version. The third fall offering is the Maverick II Dual time, which, as its name implies, has an oversized silver second time zone indicator with both hour and minute hands. It is operated independently from the local time by an additional crown located at 4 o clock. Victorinox Swiss Army watches are sold by 900 independent retailers, mostly to men, though the women s market share is growing. With the new repair facilities fully operational at the new headquarters building, repair will be more efficient. So will distribution of the other Swiss Army lines, such as the knives, apparel, cutlery and travel gear. It seems that Swiss Army is making sure that people don t forget they are, at core, a knife and watch company. C The Maverick II Dual Time SEPTEMBER 2007INTERNATIONAL WATCH