I recently heard Germaine Greer on Radio 4 bemoaning the image crisis of knives. In her day, she said, every boy had one as a boyish tool, with which he did boyish things. Today, of course, because of the acts of a mindless, violent few, the poor old knife has been so stigmatised that the five-letter word strikes fear into all who hear it.

I'm with Germaine on this one. I can remember getting my first Swiss Army knife as a kid and being fascinated by its assortment of useful metal bits that folded out of the red case like the legs of a weird compact beastie. Anyone who has owned one of these will remember the delights of debating the various functions of the tools - blade, corkscrew and scissors were obvious enough, but what of that strange spike-thingy? Was it really for removing stones from horses' hooves, as was the received wisdom in the playground?

Well, now you can find out because last week Victorinox, manufacturer of knives for the Swiss Army since 1891, opened its first store in the UK - the firm's first flagship site in Europe - in New Bond Street, Central London. And lest you wonder at the notion of a penknife-maker opening an emporium next to the likes of Armani and Burberry, a visit will set you right. For as well as the extensive collection of compact red knives - now with specialist models for everything from mountaineering and angling to cigar-cutting and fixing computers (the wonderfully named Cyber Tool), as well as a whole category featuring USB memory sticks - the Victorinox store is also a showcase for the firm's considerable range of watches, clothing and accessories.

What sets these products apart is the Swiss company's commitment to functionality. Like the penknives that are mini-marvels of engineering, the clothes and accessories have all sorts of cunning features that make them pleasingly practical and not a little idiosyncratic.

Take the Night Vision II Watch, with its built-in LED flashlight with five lighting modes to help you in the dark, including a distress function with a pulse signal that will work for up to seven days and nights. Or the SY-5000 Digital Compass Watch that will allow you to navigate using its, er, digital compass.

The luggage is equally ingenious and, like the knives, comes with a lifetime guarantee. Here are bags that have wheels that retract when you carry them over your shoulder, have 360-degree swivel handles for control when wheeling, and a tracking system that arranges for lost luggage to be reunited with its owner.

The clothes are even more 007 - an “intelligent insulation layer” or silver ripstop fabric helps to regulate body temperature, a ski jacket has a built-in Avalanche Rescue System, while a parka-style Japanese water-repellent twill has an “identity shield” mobile phone pocket lined with a fabric that prevents people hacking into your personal details. Really.

In The Third Man, Harry Lime (Orson Welles) says: “In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” Maybe, but it also produced the family firm of Victorinox of Ibach, which gave us the Swiss Army knife - and now a load of other cool stuff to go with it.