Victorinox 74mm line discontinued

StuntDouble

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Surfing along reddit earlier, and I discovered a post stating that the 74mm line has been discontinued. It looks like the money clip is still on Victorinox's website, but both the Ambassador and Executive have been removed. One member stated communication with Victorinox confirmed that production has ceased on those models.

I haven't been able to find any official announcements anywhere yet, and haven't contacted Victorinox myself, so take that with a grain of salt.
 
From a strictly business point of view, it makes sense.

When compared to the rest of the Victorinox line, the 74's are a drop in the bucket. Literally. A very small fraction of the model lineup, yet a drain of funds for both material and labor of assembly. The 74mm is a weird middle ground that is appreciated by very few of the people buying AK's. The 58mm's are the bread and butter of the company when it comes to the keychain size tool. In a harsh world of very competitive international marketing, pennies per unit counts.

I'm sure that Victorinox did a market survey and took heed of where the market is, and this action is not unexpected. Every industry has made cutbacks, and even the car industry has eliminated models that had less than stellar sales. Even a healthy tree needs a bit of pruning now and then.

In the end, its always all about the money.
 
Time to buy an Executive before inventory is gone if you're interested. I did this with the side locking Adventurer when it was discontinued. I bought several at that point as it was my regular carry knife at the time.
 
Well, that's a damn shame. It has become my daily carry replacing the Ambassador. I have one spare Executive I bought earlier this year and a few spare Ambassadors so I hope they'll last me.
 
I found a deal on a black Executive and bought it to have a second spare. At my age, I'm probably OK with spares now.
 
I have a red executive I carry on a keychain regularly and a black one that I carry daily at work. It's a shame they didn't try to expand or renew the 74mm line but as said above it probably comes down to money. I just picked up another black executive on amazon for a spare after finding they had discontinued it.
 
It's a shame they didn't try to expand or renew the 74mm line
It's a great size, more or less a peanut. With so few models I'm sure it's not as cost efficient, but they never tried to offer more so that it could be more efficient either.
The blade is also somewhat strange - an elongated Classic blade rather than a taller, slightly thicker blade like the 83mm's. For a peanut, it's a wrong blade - not necessarily for the Ambassador, but in general.
 
A footnote to this thread: between the discontinued (for now) 74mm SAKs and the 58mm Classic family of SAKs, there was a "Third Force" of 66mm Wenger SAKs, some of which are still in production in Victorinox's Delémont Collection.

Post74-1.jpg

Left to right: Executive, Ambassador, Executive 81, Classic. Executive 81 is the Delémont Collection reissue of the Esquire, Wenger's 66mm equivalent of Victorinox's 58mm Classic.

Post74-2.jpg

Executive 81 on top: it is 7.6mm longer than the Classic, it has Wenger's serrated scissors with a spring bar, and its nail file has a nail cleaner tip. If you want something like the Classic but a little larger, there it is.

Victorinox's goal is to rationalize production and avoid layoffs at Delémont in majority French-speaking Canton Jura.
 
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I can still buy 74mm easily online here in Europe if I would want to. Even my local dealer carries them and they are still part of the Victorinox line up on their website. Could it be they are selling off remaining stock and then call it a day with this line?
 
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