It's definately a Bhutan style, I must admit they tend to just be labeled 'Tibetan knife' over here.
The inscription is not arabic. Looks like Tibetan (Dzongkha (Bhutanese) It is a Sino-Tibetan language which is quite closely related to Tibetan and distantly related to Chinese) Have a look at this page for Tibetan numerals:
Tibetan numerals
The similarities are clear. I'm not sure if this is a date/numerals or words. But I think it is Tibetan/Bhutanese.
Edit: adding wiki quote: origin of Bhutanese.