Seen on eBay: Victorinox Swiss Army Watches for United Arab Emirates Market without Logo Shield and Cross

It’s not often that I see a Victorinox Swiss Army watch that I don’t recognize on eBay. After all, I spent months cataloging most of the brand’s wristwatch designs to make the Victorinox Swiss Army Watch Identifier Tool. However, I had recently begun to notice several seemingly familiar Swiss Army models  (namely the Hunter series) that looked a little bit different. These watches were missing a familiar  element from the dial, and some also had new dial layouts with additional numbers. Hmmm… I had to investigate further.

No shield logo on the dial

I won’t keep you in suspense… the unusual watches in question were listed as Swiss Army watches, yet they did not have the familiar and iconic logo mark of a red shield with a cross in the middle. As most Swiss Army watch fans know, this is the same logo mark that Swiss Army Brand has used for a long time on their knives, luggage, and watches. The logo is as Swiss as they come. In fact, the Swiss flag looks a lot like this with a white cross on a red field.

For reference, you can see the famous shield and cross logo on the Hunter watches below. Please note that there are Swiss Army logos and later Victorinox Swiss Army logos shown here. The latter appeared after Victorinox bought the Swiss Army Brand. If you do not know about these amazing watches, please check out my Swiss Army Hunter reviews here.

Authentic Victorinox Swiss Army Hunter watches Mach 1, Mach 2 and Mach 3

To be completely honest, I first thought that these watches might be fakes, but my gut said that it was unlikely. The models that I kept seeing were the amazing Swiss Army Hunter Mach 2 and Mach 3. I logically deduced that nobody in their right mind would counterfeit niche, barrel-shaped pilot watches with unique complications from the early 2000s. Those bracelets would not be easy to make and the case construction is more complicated than it might appear. Faking these just did not make financial sense, especially at the great prices listed here. The more plausible explanation was that a large batch of semi-vintage watches was uncovered somewhere. So many of the logoless Hunter watches appeared that I began to wonder if there was a bigger story here. Sure enough, there was.

OK-NYC eBay Store

Ironically, another Swiss Army collector pal of mine, Scotty D., also noticed these badgeless watches, and contacted the eBay seller. The seller was completely transparent with this helpful reply below. The company selling these watches has a fantastic rating on eBay as OK-NYC and also Chrono24 under the name Luxury Horology Inc. so I took their reply seriously and as gospel.

Message from seller

As further proof, the OK-NYC told me in a separate message:

“We purchased a lot of Swiss Army from a reputable watch wholesaler and we were puzzled at first because it did not have the cross. Some of the watches had price tags in AED, United Arab Emirates Dirham. That explained the absence of the cross on those watches. We also verified the authenticity of those models.”

If you do your own internet research, you will see that it’s a known practice to change logos that contain a cross in middle east countries. Be forewarned that some of these sites are pushing strong personal viewpoints with a narrow world view so search with discretion. I do not feel comfortable getting into religion, politics or ideological skirmishes that date back to the middle ages here. The Watch Hunter Blog is supposed to be an escape from the problems of the real world where we can all just enjoy our shared interest in collecting watches. With that said, I think it is safe to state the fact that Christian and Muslim symbolism may sometimes cause tension in the Middle East. Many companies play it safe by modifying their existing products to work in a different culture. It is more common than you think.

No shield logo present and “Hunter” was moved to top for this Swiss Army Hunter Mach 3

In this case, it looks like the Swiss manufacturer created custom versions of several of their popular Swiss Army watches without the shield and cross logo mark on the dial. This is interesting from a branding point-of-view, but it looks like Victorinox Swiss Army obliged with what could be described as a custom dial order.

I don’t hink that Victorinox renamed these watches or gave them different SKU numbers, but I am not sure. You can see on the case back the words 9G-475 , which is another name for the Hunter Mach 3. The serial number places this watch in the early 2000s, which is when these watches were sold.

9G-475 and serial number on back

It looks like the omission of the shield-cross was strict on the dial, but the cross-without-the-shield appears elsewhere. Some parts of the watch with cross symbols were left as-is. This is likely due to the reality that creating new case backs, crowns and buckles would have been prohibitively costly. It seems that the cross in the Swiss Air Force logo could be more acceptible than (I am going out on a limb here) the combination of the cross on a shield. Maybe that would be a step too far in the Middle East since the logo mark looks like a knight’s shield from the crusades. Admittedly, that was centuries ago, but these wars still seem to echo through time, even to this day.

About a year ago, I talked to the first designer of Swiss Army watches, Gerard Huerta, who told me that the cross-shield logo mark was integral to the style of many of Victorinox’s most well-known watches. The logo-shield mark replaced the 12 on an early watch design and just stuck. While this is not a concrete design rule, and there are exceptions, this cross-shield logo has become expected on Victorinox Swiss Army watches. To see a dial without it is a surprise. To fill the space left by the logo removal, an Arabic 12 is put in its place, when the logo appears in the 12:00 position as seen below.

On other models where the Swiss Army logo is not at the 12:00 position, the logo shield is simply removed as seen below on the highly collectible Swiss Army FA/18 Chronograph.

No shield logo on the dial of a Swiss Army FA/18 Chronograph

There is quite a variety of Victorinox Swiss Army watches for sale by OK-NYC in their eBay store, and I would say the price is right if you are looking for a new-old-stock Swiss Army watch with a different dial than you might see in other parts of the world. See the models below and get them while you can. Heck, buy more than one and get a discount. Go crazy… it’s deal time.

Many thanks to Andrei at Luxury Horology Inc. who graciously allowed me to use his photos in this article, and for the extra information he provided. Remember, this is a business based in New York City and sales during this crazy Coronavirus time might help more than you think. Now, all you have to do is point, click and buy at the OK-NYC eBay Store. Happy hunting.