MEET THE WATCH: Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 Limited Edition from 2005

When I first saw the auction on eBay, I was not sure that I was looking at the special watch that I wanted it to be. I had hoped that the listing was the rare, limited edition Swiss Army watch from 2005, which was based on the Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 watch. The 2005 novelty is seldom seen for those who search for such things. In fact, I have only seen photos of the watch on a very old website, which has now passed into the ether. Those images were the original promotional product photos made by Swiss Army as seen below. In my opinion, it’s a pretty sexy look for a three-handed watch. However, the single image from 2005 always left a lot to the imagination. Was there more to the watch than I thought?

Officer’s 1884 Watch Family Overview

Maybe we should step back a bit to get a better view of Victorinox Swiss Army’s watch lines in 2005, specifically the Officer’s 1884 models. I suppose you could say that these models were your typical, high-quality everyday watches made for normal people. Most of them had a Swiss quartz movement powered by a battery. For the average consumer who might buy a watch at a department store, these watches represented good value for a basic watch. For those of you who might be too young to remember 2005, it was a different time than today. Malls were still a viable way of buying consumer goods. Amazon had just launched Amazon Prime, but it had not yet grown into the behemoth it is now. And, it would be another two years before Apple launched its first iPhone revolutionizing how we buy things, listen to music, and yes, even tell time.

I am mentioning this to point out that back then, many people wore watches to tell the time. I don’t believe we had yet switched over to the practice of just looking at your cell phone to tell the hour and minute of the day. As such, a simple and affordable watch was something that the everyday consumer needed. It was considered a basic necessity such as a belt or a good pair of shoes would be. Today, watches have either become a fashion choice to show your personality or they have morphed into a different multi-purpose device as Smart Watches with health tracking and apps. Smartwatches are more like mini-computers, GPSs, phones, smart home controllers, pagers and the list goes on.

For a basic quartz watch, the Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 had a distinctive look. You could say the Officer’s 1884 family had familiar DNA that tied them all together. This includes a compact case design with horn-like lugs that remind me of the stubby pincers found on some ants. I know…I have quite the imagination, but it is an accurate description. The case has a built-in crown protector that gives the watch an asymmetrical look. Luckily, the crown guards flow smoothly from the lugs to the crown giving it a flowing organic look. There are not really many sharp edges to Officer’s 1884 watches. The bezel was usually a polished surround for the dial. It could be stainless steel, gold-tone, or even diamond on some of the lady’s models.

Dials of the Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 exhibit the classic Swiss Army design language. The logo shield replaces the “12:00” marker at the top-dead-center. Easy-to-read Arabic numerals and a minutes track outline the dial on the outer extremities. The secondary 24-hour military scale is present towards the center of the dial. A date window with an outline surround appears on different locations of the dial. Its position is dictated by the quartz movement chosen for each particular watch. The 3:00 position was typical for three-hand models and the 4:00 position was used for chronographs. The hour and minute hand style was a baton.  To see the full line of Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 please view the Victorinox Swiss Army Watch Identifier.

Officer’s 1884 Limited Edition Watch

It might be easier to discuss the 2005 Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 Limited Edition (v24713) as a study in contrast when compared to the standard issue. This model almost does not fit into the Officer’s 1884 family tree. It could be considered the most highly-evolved Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 watch ever made. In movie terms, it might be like having an A-list movie star in the company of community theater actors. You can quickly see what makes this limited edition stand above the rest. While the limited edition might look similar to the standard models, there are some major differences that take it to the next level.

Upgraded Materials

Swiss Army chose unique materials for the Officer’s 1884 limited edition watch. The organic case shape is rendered in space-age titanium instead of stainless steel. If you look closely, you can see evidence of a lightly brushed surface. Some of my favorite watches are made from titanium, which is as light as a feather compared to steel, and it warms up to the skin better. Because of this, I can barely feel a titanium watch on my wrist, which is a nice break from wearing top-heavy watches that slide all over the place. A reasonable 42 mm size also makes this watch wearable for many people. I do not have dimensions on the height, but assume it is low.

The bezel appears to be made from hard texturized plastic. The juxtaposition of this slightly granular plastic bezel and brushed titanium case looks sportier than the other Officer’s 1884 models. Swiss Army continued the two-tone theme by designing a crown with a black PVD coating. It appears that the sapphire crystal is slightly proud of the bezel (see below). Since sapphire is harder than plastic, its higher placement might stop the softer bezel from getting scuffed in the event of an accidental bump.

A Unique Sunburst Dial

The dial of the Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s 1884 Limited Edition was also given special treatment. The steel gray dial has a sunburst effect. This kind of sunburst dial is difficult to photograph, but easy to see in person. The grain is very fine. Light plays across the surface making ray-like reflections that always point to the center of the dial. The beautiful gray color is slightly metallic and somewhere between charcoal and medium gray. As you can see, it changes in different lighting conditions so the owner will never get bored looking at it. I cannot think of another Swiss Army watch with this exact color gray dial.

The black Arabic numerals appear to float on the surface of the dial, and they should. In truth, they are not printed but applied as 3-dimensional numbers. Instead of being highly polished, they seem to be matte with low reflectivity. The numbers either blend into the dial or jump off depending on how the light strikes the sunburst pattern. The photo above shows this perfectly as some numbers are readable and some are not. You might think this is a bad design that can reduce legibility, but there is still the outer minute’s track with a dot of lume to mark every five minutes. If a number or the baton hands are obscured, simply tilt your wrist to reveal them.

Automatic Movement

There is another major difference between this limited edition Officer’s 1884 and the rest of the model line, and that is the watch has an automatic movement. All the other Officer’s 1884 watches seem to have quartz movements. I would suspect that the movement is an ETA 2892 automatic caliber with a winding rotor and a power reserve of around 50 hours. Closer inspection of the movement through the exhibition case reveals that the ETA 2892 was likely a higher grade than the standard. You can tell this by the blue screws, pearlage, and Geneva stripes decorating it. This watch also has a custom rotor with Victorinox Swiss Army for greater customization.

Watchbands

There is an interesting feature about this watch that does not match the promotional photo seen at the start of this article. That watch clearly shows a stepped rubber strap with fitted ends, which removes gaps between the strap and case. On the other hand, the leather watchband seen in the majority of the images does not match the original. This could mean that the original watchband was replaced (maybe it was broken or lost?). Or, it could mean that a different strap other than the rubber watchband was delivered with the watch in 2005. There was also another detail that confused me about the strap in the images, but the answer was simple. There is a flap of leather showing near the lower strap near the 6:00 marker. I concluded that the lower strap was put on upside down so that we are seeing the underside of the strap. It’s an easy issue to fix.

Rarity

So, how rare is this Swiss Army watch? I think that it is a truly special limited edition timepiece. Very few watch collectors will ever see, handle or own one. There was only 150 of them made in 2005. It is unknown if they were distributed worldwide or only in Europe. The one on eBay was in Switzerland. I would think that circumstance has reduced the numbers of these watches and some are lost to time. That is the case with most watch models, but only 150 made means that the effects of attrition are even greater.

To be honest, I tried to win this watch in an eBay auction but lost to a higher bidder. I will probably regret not buying this rare specimen outright when I had the chance. My indecision prevented me from winning an interesting piece of Swiss Army watch history. I hope it went to a super collector of Swiss Army watches and that they enjoy this novelty from 2005. It sure is cool.

I would like to thank Dorel of watch-deals.com who graciously gave me permission to reproduce images of this rare watch.