This is an accepted version of this page Suunto Oy is a Finnish company that manufactures and markets sports watches, dive computers, compasses and precision instruments.

Headquartered in Vantaa, Finland, Suunto employs more than 300 people worldwide, and its products are sold in over 100 countries.

[5][6] The company's name comes from the Finnish word suunta, meaning "direction" or "path", or in navigation, "bearing" or "heading".

[citation needed] In 1932 the company's founder, Tuomas Vohlonen, a surveyor by profession, applied for a patent for a unique method of filling and sealing a lightweight compass housing made entirely of celluloid and filled with liquid to dampen the needle and to protect it from shock and wear due to excessive motion.

[7] Although it was not the first portable liquid-filled compass, Vohlonen's design was compact and lightweight, enabling it to be easily worn on the wrist.

[13] During World War II, Suunto introduced a compact liquid sighting compass, the M/40, for artillery officers and other users needing a precision instrument for measuring an azimuth.

[citation needed] The company grew rapidly after the war, supplying compasses and other navigational instruments to both civilian and military markets.

In the late 1930s Suunto Oy was located in the backyard building of Laivanvarustajankatu 8, Ullanlinna, Helsinki.

Suunto Oy's headquarters moved to its current location in Valimotie 7, Tammisto, Vantaa in 2001.

Since 1967, successors of M-40 have been offered as KB line, which consists of high-quality hand-bearing surveying compasses and inclinometers that are accurate to fractions of a degree.

Traditionally made of a solid block of machined aluminum, each KB compass contains a magnetized dial with calibration markings printed along its outer edge.

[21] A magnifying lens (KB-14) or prismatic sight (KB-77) is mounted at one end of the instrument with a crosshair providing a view of the disc, containing both forward and reciprocal bearings.

[21] In operation, the user divides his or her field of vision with the instrument, using the device's lens or prism to precisely measure the bearing of the object in view.

A newer model, the KB-20, utilizes a housing composed of high-impact plastic to allow the compass to float if dropped into water.

This allows a user to obtain fairly accurate compass bearings even when moving, such as when hiking or traveling in a canoe.

In 1989, the Finnish Army adopted the Suunto M89-60 wrist compass with a composite baseplate, followed by the M-801 with aluminum housing.

[citation needed] Suunto makes multi-function electronic wristwatches such as the Core, Ambit, Vector, X-Lander, and X10, which can provide a variety of functions including compass bearings, altitude, training effect and even GPS location, depending on model.

Suunto Vector was the world's first outdoor watch with ABC (altimeter, barometer and compass) functions.

It has, among other features, rate-to-rate recording of heart rate, an altimeter based on air pressure, calculation of EPOC and training effect and support for external POD devices measuring speed and distance.

Since the 2010s, Suunto has been successful in its efforts to reduce production in China and increase the share of Finnish manufacturing.

[26] When publishing Kailash, Suunto also introduced their new approach, separating branches: together with Essential and Elementum, Kailash is now forming a new branch called Suunto 7R, which is a collection of lifestyle watches, while watches for sports and performing present a separate category.

Suunto also manufactures the Elementum series of premium handmade wristwatches with specialized functions for outdoor (Terra), water activities (Aqua) and sailing (Ventus, discontinued).

In 2021, the Movescount web-based online service was closed and replaced by a dedicated Suunto app available for iOS and Android.