Swiss Army Brands relation with Victorinox

[UnknownVT]

I noticed this on the www.Victorinox.ch web site:

"2002 Acquisition of SABI, the US representative"
http://www.victorinox.ch/newsite/en/portrait/index.htm

Searching through the SwissArmy.com web site I found this:
http://swissarmy.com/corporate/press_archive.cfm?type=company#77

QUOTE:
Swiss Army Brands, Inc., a Connecticut-based company that recently became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Victorinox A.G., the Switzerland-based manufacturer of Victorinox® Original Swiss Army™ Knives and other cutlery products.
<snip> Swiss Army Brands is the North American distributor of Victorinox® Original Swiss Army™ Knives and the global designer, marketer and distributor of Swiss Army® Brand watches and other quality products.
<snip>Swiss Army Brands, Inc. is the exclusive United States, Canadian and Caribbean marketer of Victorinox® Original Swiss Army™ Knives, multi-tools and SwissCards®. In addition to its line of Swiss Army® Watches, the company also markets Bear MGC™ knives and multi-tools as well as cutlery under the R. H. Forschner® brand. The company also has a controlling interest in Xantia, SA, an international company, which designs and manufactures watches. Under license from Victorinox A.G. of Ibach, Switzerland, the Company sublicenses the Victorinox trademark and the famous Elsener Family Crest to selected manufacturers of fine products including Victorinox® Travel Gear and Victorinox® Apparel. Swiss Army Brands operates a flagship retail store at 136 Prince Street in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. The company Web site is located at www.swissarmy.com. Swiss Army Brands, Inc. is based in Shelton, CT.
UNQUOTE

 

[UnknownVT]

For years the US model #s for the Victorinox SAKs have been different from those of Victorinox's own Swiss/intenational #s.

I have always just put it down to H.R. Forschner (the official US importers of Vic SAKs, later to set up the SABI division - Swiss Army Brands Inc.) wanting to differentiate itself.

But I have always found this deliberate different model numbering awkward at best, and at worst sometimes confusing -
for example the famous Tinker confusion - I did not realize until recently the US Tinker model was 91mm whereas the rest of the world the Tinker was a 84mm model - see this thread (linked):

SAK - Victorinox Tinker

However since the purchase of SABI by Victorinox in 2002 (above) -
and Swiss Army Brands is now wholly owned by Victorinox -
will the model #s finally be the same as Victorinox's -
and the rest of the world?