Suunto

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Suunto Oy

logo
legal form subsidiary
founding 1936
Seat Vantaa ( Finland )
Number of employees 500
sales € 104.2 million
Branch Measuring devices, dive computers
Website www.suunto.com
As of December 31, 2012

Suunto Oy [ ˈsuːntɔ ] is a Finnish measuring equipment company that manufactures functional sports watches , diving instruments and compasses. The headquarters and the production facility are located in Vantaa , Finland . Suunto has been owned by Amer Sports since 1999 .

history

Suunto was founded as a family business in 1936 by surveyor and inventor Tuomas Vohlonen. Initially, the company manufactured magnetic compasses that are worn on the wrist like a wristwatch (M-311). Although the Adrianov compasses, also worn on a bracelet, were already in use in Russia, Vohlonen's design, in contrast to these, had a liquid-bearing capsule. Vohlonen had this patented in 1933, i.e. before the company was founded. During the Second World War, these compasses were mainly made for the Finnish military and are still in production. Due to the need for mass production, the development of the production steps was of crucial importance for the company. Vohlonen died in 1939, which is why his wife continued the company until 1952.

The range was expanded to include compasses for divers (SK-4) in 1965 and the dome compass for sailors in 1975. In the following years the company became known worldwide. Suunto has been developing and producing dive computers since 1987 and electronic compasses as well as outdoor and sports watches since the 1990s. In 1996, Suunto took over the Swiss compass manufacturer Recta in Biel, which supplies the armies of Switzerland , Austria and Canada , among others . Under the product name Global System , Recta also sold compasses with a special capsule construction that can be used worldwide regardless of local magnetic inclination .

In 1999 Suunto was taken over by Amer Sports . In 2010 and 2012, sports and diving watches from Suunto received the red dot design award .

Company profile

In the absence of an obligation to publish and based on the policy of the parent company, only sparse information is available about the company. According to its own information, Suunto has around 400 employees worldwide and sells its products in around 100 countries. According to a study, Suunto holds 40% of the dive computer market. In 2012 the company - as the Sports Instruments division of the parent company Amer Sports - achieved sales of 104.2 million euros.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jo Beckendorff: Amer Sports 2012: Mavic and Suunto grew well. Industry news at Radmarkt.de from February 1, 2013.
  2. ↑ a b Record sales at Amer Sports despite the mild winter 2011/12.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.sport-fachhandel.com   Report at Sport-Fachhandel.com from February 25, 2013.
  3. ↑ a b Amer Sports Financial Statements 2012. ( Memento of the original from June 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.amersports.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 3.6 MB) 2012 annual report at Amersports.com (p. 6), accessed on May 17, 2013.
  4. ↑ Article about the founder Tuomas Vohlonen
  5. ↑ Timeline on Suunto's Facebook presence
  6. ^ History of Recta
  7. ↑ Entry about the compass manufacturer Recta in the Compass Museum
  8. ↑ Suunto products that have won the Red Dot Design Award
  9. ^ Suunto profile
  10. ^ Birgitta Sandberg: Managing and Marketing Radical Innovations. Routledge, 2008, ISBN 978-0-415-43307-5 , p. 203.