I actually stumbled across your post due to one of the comments you made on another post
If only people were so up in arms over government spending, taxation, and debt
I could not agree more, but maybe it is due to there being more of a support/commonality between centralized vs decentralized or mom and pop vs big corp. Most people when it comes to government or subjects of politics probably refrain due to lack of exposure or the ability to actually influence anything whereas the others have a more collective brand to it.
As for this subject of this post the Swiss just make great tools and watches so maybe it is just far more refined. And yeah the older model compared to newer ones is probably an apples to oranges comparison as I'm sure if the company was around today it can still be profitable, but marketing cost can get quite extensive nowadays to try to get mainstream traction.
In terms of design though I'm sure SAK has a huge development budget which shows in how sophisticated the overall tool looks, not to mention when comparing the two it seems the knives and stuff stick out a lot less in the SAK. Honestly I don't know of too many other major brands when it comes to pocket knives but maybe someone else will chime in with some info.
I would agree with the apples and oranges comparison due to age, but my swiss army knife is essentially the 1961 model. Less wear and tear, sure, but both designs date back to the same era. The US also has a long history of very good knives of this type for the Boy Scouts. I am therefore perplexed at this particular example for the military.
I appreciate the follow up from comments on other posts! Evidence of actual readership is always welcome.
Oh I just enjoy good/interesting conversations. Now if there was a voice form of all of this I'd be hooked. Somewhat of a 3speak, but a more fluid way for conversations to be recorded and for people to join in and out of discussions.
So back then information was far more secluded so yeah if you were comparing comps in that era. If that was the case for me the little aesthetics are why the swiss army knife ended up winning out. I'm also not sure what marketing tactics occurred back then for each product line but that also plays a pretty vital role.
Nowadays due to meme culture and how our society has changed/evolved I'm sure if they branded one for zombie apocalypses may even end up performing better. I've seen some newer age models have a fire starter built into the pocket knife whereas back then understanding of chemistry and designs were probably not as evolved as they are now.