Karl Elsener: The Cutler Who Created an Icon of Precision and Utility

On October ninth, eighteen sixty, Karl Elsener was born in Ibach, in the canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. He was a cutler, inventor, and entrepreneur, and his work defined the field of high-quality tools and precision craftsmanship.

In the late eighteen-eighties, the Swiss army wanted to equip its soldiers with a reliable field knife. Initially, these knives were produced in Germany, which concerned the young, patriotic cutler Karl Elsener. He decided to create a knife that was just as good, but Swiss-made. The great challenge was to create a knife that was both robust and had multiple tools, yet remained light and compact enough to be carried in a pocket. Elsener solved this with a brilliant design: he placed all the tools on the same side of a common pivot point, using a spring mechanism that allowed all tools to be opened individually. This was the birth of the original "Officer's and Sports Knife," which later became known worldwide as the Swiss Army Knife. Elsener founded the company Victorinox, and his invention has become a universal symbol of reliability, versatility, and Swiss precision.