Introducing the Victorinox Swiss Army Watch Identifier and Model Database

Click link above on how to ID your Swiss Army watch

It has been a long time coming, but I am happy to finally launch a new section of the Watch Hunter site that will hopefully be useful to the watch community, and specifically, to collectors of Victorinox Swiss Army watches. Making an online database of various Victorinox Swiss Army watch models going back as far as possible is something that I have wanted to do for years. Of course, I have my own nerdy database of watches, but it contains less than 100 Swiss Army models. That database has everything from measurements, weights and release dates, but it is not repeatable on a grand scale because it took me years to get all that info myself.

The Watch Hunter Victorinox Swiss Army Watch Identifier starts with over 820 individual SKUs, and that number will only grow in time. I know there are watch models absent in it so this is work-in-progress. I would like to think of this as a community effort, and it will be up to anyone using it to point out errors or omissions that they might encounter. I will certainly do my best to add additional and uncommon models like special editions and limited editions. These might not exist in printed catalogs that I have access to or rarely appear online (depending on the year it was released). In fact, I’ve spotted at least 10 models that still need to be added that I personally own, but were not in the original list of selected models that I compiled from the Internet. If you notice anything, please contact me with suggestions, corrections or additions that you would like to see in the Victorinox Swiss Army Watch Identifier.

Click to launch the Victorinox Swiss Army Watch Identifier and Database on Watchhunter.org

Since 1989, Victorinox Swiss Army has designed hundreds of unique and interesting watch models and manufactured untold thousands (millions?) of watches. Because the early days of Victorinox Swiss Army coincided with the advent of the Internet, much of the information about their earlier watches seems to be lost to time, or at least it is challenging to find on the web. I know this because I have researched older models for readers that did not look familiar like the Whisper or the Delta. In some cases, I would find a single pixelated image that held the revealing clue to identify the watch. In other cases, I would find nothing at all. I have painstakingly collected model numbers and whatever images I could find from common search engine image queries to compile this database. Sometimes I could only get a low-res place-holder image generated by Google of a photo long since deleted (from the host site). If you see a blurry photo, then that is likely the reason why. If you want to contribute a clearer photo of a watch model, then I welcome the help.

Along with search engine sourced imagery, I sometimes went back to the “printed page” for watch photos. The sources might have been Victorinox’s very own publications such as their catalogs, flyers and press releases. Speaking of paper references, I have posted links to the Victorinox Swiss Army PDF Catalogs and Victorinox Swiss Army User PDF Manuals that may be useful to learn more about a different model in more detail and put them in historical context for the brand. Some of these were very hard to find, especially the older ones that existed before Adobe’s PDF format became a common online distribution method. I might sound like a broken record by now, but if you have a catalog or manual PDF that I do not have in either library, I would greatly appreciate you sending it to me.

It should be noted that there might be some manufacturing variances in Victorinox Swiss Army watches that have the same SKU number. Even if Swiss Army is fairly consistent, these kinds of variations can arise during a manufacturing run of several years.

Logo Variations – There are 3 known major variations of the Victorinox Swiss Army Logo. The early versions did not have the word Victorinox in them but were altered later to satisfy copyright requirements. The round logo version is an unsolved mystery at this point. There is some debate online on whether this was part of the Swiss company “Swiss Army” or another entity. For now, I am saying they are related, but I will continue to dig deeper. Additionally, there was already another watch brand selling watches in the United States under the name Swiss Army, those are not related to the Victorinox Swiss Army watch brand that we know, and in fact, represents a now-defunct company.

Variations of the Swiss Army logo. The last one is a different company.

Lume Type – Early models of Swiss Army watches may have tritium-based lume on their dials and hands. Watches with the slightly radioactive glowing material are marked with the words “T SWISS MADE T” on the lower portion of the dial. Tritium was later replaced industry-wide with the non-radioactive luminescent material under the brand name Luminova and Super Luminova. During the transition period of roughly the late 1990s to early 2000s, it was possible to have Victorinox Swiss Army models of the same product number or model name with a Tritium dial or a Luminova dial. These are not necessarily considered different models but should be considered subtle variations of a model.

Dial markings determine the type of lume material used on the watch

Dial and Hand Subtleties – There may also be subtle dial differences such as different fonts, different handsets or design changes like the example shown below. I originally thought these represented the same model number and were manufacturing variations, but they are actually 2 different model families that use the same case and bezel design. This can muddy the waters a little. If I cannot find the model number, I may just list it descriptively until I can find the model number, which is not always that easy. This mostly pertains to earlier Swiss Army watch designs, and not modern ones with very specific DNA traits per family.

Design variations on similar Swiss Army watches can be confusing. This is a Maverick on the left and a very early Garrison on the right (I think)

Cross-referenced model numbers – Ready to get a little confused? It seems that Victorinox sometime has different model numbers for the same watch. It will take me some time to sort this out, so just know if you do not see the exact number, there may be an alias. For example, 24091 and V.25091 refer to the same watch, an Airboss Mach 1 Auto Black. The model number structure is different so maybe those were sold in different markets. Eventually, I will have a cross-reference list for these horological doppelgangers…

Learn about the age of your Victorinox Swiss Army watch

Believe it or not, some Victorinox Swiss Army watches do not appear to have model numbers or even serial numbers. These unique SKUs and item numbers can be used to identify your watch and determine the year when it was manufactured. This is different from a release date, which is the first year the watch was sold to the public. In the earlier days of the Swiss Army brand, the numbering was inconsistent or non-existent. I wrote an article about determining the age (and model) of your Victorinox Swiss Army watch that may be useful, so check it out. It can let you know if you are looking at a watch from 2005 or 1995, and that can help to know what you are getting into in the area of rarity, maintenance for mechanical watches or what type of lume it will likely have.

Otherwise, you can use the Watch Hunter Victorinox Swiss Army Watch Identifier to visually try to find your watch. Each major watch family is listed, but beware that some family traits changed significantly over time so an early model Airboss may look vastly different from a later model. It is best to just try to visually match your watch to the photos. Think of it as a giant game, and it won’t be so bad. However, you may easily become distracted browsing through Swiss Army models that you had no idea existed. I know I did and soon compiled a list of new watch models to hunt.

That is easy to answer. The need existed and somebody had to do it. Also, I built it for myself to save time and gain a greater understanding of the watches made by Victorinox, which is a vast collection of styles. Victorinox does not have anything like the Watch Hunter Victorinox Swiss Army Watch Identifier accessible to the public, that I know of. I would suspect that certain vendors or internal employees have access to all this good information, but that leaves the Swiss Army watch collectors out of the loop, or at least they have to contact Victorinox for help identifying their watch. Looking at their current site reveals that they are in the business of selling and talking about current models only.

For example, last year, I remember trying to find information about a watch that was only 3-4 years old on their site, and there was not a single word about it. I understand advertising only “available models” from a business perspective, but I do not get it from a heritage perspective. I am using that term loosely since Victorinox watchmaking has a history dating to 1989, but still, it is worth celebrating in my opinion. That is where the Watch Hunter Victorinox Swiss Army Watch Identifier comes in because it fills in the gaps between current and past models. I have taken information that was diluted across the Internet and concentrated it in one place.

This list is not sponsored or endorsed by Victorinox. The information contained is accurate to the best of my knowledge, but there may be errors to correct along the way. If you see any errors or have a Swiss Army watch to include on the list, please contact me with details. Enjoy!