Alox Limited Edition 2015

Im Sommer 2015 hat Victorinox endlich auf die gestiegene Nachfrage der Sammler nach Alox Messer reagiert. Sie haben ein Alox Set bestehend aus Classic, Cadet und Pionier heraus gegeben. Die Messer sind alle in einem dunklen Blau gehalten und tragen auf der Rückseite auf dem Gravurfeld die Jahreszahl 2015 in weiss aufgedruckt. Das Messer ist weder graviert noch nummeriert.

Das Set ist limitiert. Das heisst es ist nicht in der Anzahl produzierter Messer limitiert, sondern es ist limitiert in der Produktionsdauer. Es wird nur während einem Jahr produziert.

Jedes Jahr soll ein neues ähnliches Alox Set jeweils in einer anderen Farbe und mit der entsprechenden Jahreszahl erscheinen.

Auf den letzten Bildern ist ein Farbvergleich zu sehen zwischen verschiedenen blauen Alox Messern der vergangenen Jahre und dem neuen Alox Set.

 

In summer 2015 Victorinox finally answered the increasing demand of collectors for more colored Alox knives. They released a set of three Alox knives. A Classic, Cadet and Pioneer in dark blue with the year 2015 stamped on the backside scale in white color.

This set is not limited by quantity but by time of production. It will be produced only during a year.

From now on Victorinox will release each year a similar Alox Set. Each time in another Alox color and with the year stamp.

The last pictures show a color comparison of different blue Alox knives from the past few years.

Cognac Cadet

Das Alox Cadet, das es eigentlich nicht geben sollte…

 

The Alox Cadet which should not exist…

Cognac Cadet

Die Geschichte

Im Jahre 2012 produzierte Victorinox eine Serie von farbigen Alox Cadetten. Die Serie besteht aus 5 Farben: rot, blau, schwarz, silber und orange.

 

The Story

2012 Victorinox produced a serie of 5 Alox Cadet in red, blue, black, silver and orange.

Alox Cadet serie 2012

Ein Fehler in der Produktion führte dazu, dass ein Cadet in braun-orange produziert werden. Eigentlich sollte es ein standard orange werden. Als der Fehler bemerkt wurde, waren bereits 1’000 Stück hergestellt worden. Victorinox stoppte die Produktion dieses “falschen” Cadetten und produzierte dann, wie vorgesehen das orange.

Victorinox wollte dieses Cadet nicht in den normalen Verkauf bringen. Es bekam die Modell Nummer 0.2600.L1128 , den Namen Cognac, in Anspielung auf die Farbe und wurde vorerst mal in eine Ecke im Lager abgestellt.

Erst Ende 2014 wurden es dann im Lagerverkauf das erste Mal verkauft. Auch im darauf folgenden Lagerverkauf Mitte 2015 war es wieder erhältlich.

 

Caused by a production error, Victorinox produced 1’000 pieces of a brown-orange Cadet instead of a standard orange. Afterwards they produced the correct orange Cadet.

The wrong Cadet with the model number 0.2600.L1128 was named “Cognac” because of its color and was banned into the storage.

End of 2014 it was sold the first time in Victorinox stock closeout. It was also available in the last stock closeout in Juni 2015.

Cognac Cadet and orange

Die Farbe

Die Farbe genannt Cognac sieht anders aus als die anderen orangen Cadetten. Es kommt dem Sunset Orange von 2012 sehr nahe. Im Bild unten sieht man die Farbunterschiede.

Kupfer – Kupfer – Cognac – Sunset orange – Orange

 

The color

The color Cognac is similar to the Sunset orange from 2012. See picture below for a color comparison.

Copper – Copper – Cognac – Sunset orange – Orange

Cognac Cadet color comparison

Klingenstempel

Im Laufe des Jahres 2012 änderte Victorinox die Schrift auf dem Klingenspiegel ihrer Messer. Das V von Victorinox wurde gleich hoch geschrieben wie der Rest des Namens. Die Messer, die 2012 und 2013 hergestellt wurden, können Klingen mit dem alten oder dem neuen Stempel enthalten.

So auch das Cognac Cadet. Ich habe Exemplare mit altem und neuem Klingenstempel gesehen.

 

Tangstamp

In 2012 Victorinox changed the tangstamp on their knives. The V from Victorinox was changed to the same hight as the other characters. Knives produced in 2012 and 2013 may have old or new tangstamps. Same for the Cognac Cadet. I saw knives with both tangstamps.

Cognac Cadet tang

Die Geschichte wurde mir von einem Victorinox Verkaufsmanager erzählt.

 

A Victorinox sales manager told me this story.

Blue Cadet with red shield

A very nice blue Cadet with red shield. This is a new special run made by Victorinox in April 2013. As usual only 50 pieces were made and all knives are numbered.

The blue shade is a bit different from other Alox knives. It’s a bit darker than the regular blue Cadet, but a bit brighter than the special run darkblue Cadet from 2011.
Some pictures below show the different blue shades.

 

Blue Cadets comparison
Cadet and Pioneer comparison

 

 

 

Cadet in gold and blue

In Mai 2012 Victorinox produced a special run of Cadets for a small fashion shop in Switzerland. 50 pieces in gold and 50 pieces in blue. The knives are not numbered and do not have any print on them. Each knife comes in a nice black leather pouch.

The gold color is the same as on the gold Pioneer and the gold Wilderness.

The blue shade is the same as used for the Cadet without ring, which Victorinox produced in March 2012 together with four other colors. This blue is the “standard” blue used by Victorinox for some other Alox model too, for example Pioneer and Farmer.

Some pictures below show a color comparison.

 

Pioneer and Cadet
Pioneer and Cadet
Pioneer and Cadet
Cadets in blue
Cadets

Cadet plus – Mini Farmer

The Victorinox Cadet plus was first introduced in April 2011. In fact two different models were introduced at the same time. A black Alox Cadet plus and a silver Alox Cadet II plus with black tools. These knives are also called Mini Farmer, because of its similarity with the Farmer model.

Cadet plus silver and black

The Cadet plus adds a woodsaw to the well known Cadet and the Cadet II plus adds a woodsaw to the Cadet II model, which has the nailfile replaced by a small blade.

Cadet plus nailfile-small blade

Only 50 pieces of each model were made by Victorinox and all knives are numbered on the main blade.

Cadet plus black number
Cadet plus silver number

In November 2011 a silver Cadet plus II was produced for a US Dealer in a small quantity. He called it Micro Farmer, probably to distinguish it from the predecessors. These knives are not numbered.

Cadet plus II silber

In 2012 a red and a sunset orange Cadet plus were produced, followed by a  copper colored with red shield in 2013.

Cadet plus all colors open

There is a small difference between the first Cadet plus and the last two models made in sunset orange and copper. The spacers or liners, used in the last two Cadet plus are made of aluminum, while the others are made of nickel silver.

Cadet plus NS versus AL arrows

The usage of aluminum liners instead of nickel silver liners has some impacts on the knives.  The aluminum liners are thicker but lighter. But how much thicker and how much lighter are the Cadet plus with aluminum liners really?

Cadet plus Nickel silver thin
Cadet plus Aluminum thick

As you can see the Cadet with aliminum liners is 0.6mm (0.0236″) thicker than the one with nickel silver liners.

And similar low and insignificant is the difference in weight. Aluminum saves 2g compared to nickel silver.

On the other side, nickel silver is stronger than aluminum and I would prefer nickel silver.

Cadet plus red weight
Cadet plus orange weight

But there is not only a difference in the material, also the shape of the liners is different. The nickel silver liners describe a bend till the back of the blade, while the aluminum liners are smaller and follow the back spring. And this is a plus for the aluminum liners.

Cadet plus liner shape-arrow

The extra space for the woodsaw is the plus for the aluminum liners. When I close the woodsaw of a Cadet plus with nickel silver liners, sometimes it happens, that a teeth bites in a liner. With the smaller aluminum liners without the bend this cannot happen.

Cadet plus red saw
Cadet plus orange saw

I like the Cadet plus and Cadet II plus. For me it’s really like a mini Farmer, it combines a lot of useful tools in a small pocket size.

Enjoy some more pictures…

In May 2014 a US Dealer(*) ordered two more Micro Farmer in two different color. One in apocalypse green and the other in Davy’s gray. More about Davy’s gray here.

 

(*) He doesn’t want his name published on my website.

Micro Farmer davys gray and  apocalypse green