Polar Electro is headquartered in Finland. It predominantly makes and sells sports watches and accessories, with a particular strength in selling to the European markets. But where are they made?
You can see clearly in the image above that slightly older watches like Ignite 2 (2021), Vantage M2 (2021) and Pacer Pro (2022) are clearly labelled as ‘Made In China’.
The origin of the current crop of watches is slightly more ambiguous, as the cases are labelled as ‘Designed in Finland’. Check out this image of the reverse of the Vantage M3 (2024), Vantage V3 (2023) and Grit X2 Pro (2024).
To dispel any doubt, a cursory check of the Vantage V3’s packaging shows more precise labelling as ‘Designed in Finland, Made by Polar in China’
Effect of Trump’s Tariffs on Polar
The President’s extremely high tariff levels on China-origin goods slightly favour companies that make watches in Asian countries other than China. As we saw when looking at Coros, the proposed 145% tariffs combined with Coros’ unique position will soon bankrupt the company unless something changes (which it will!).
It’s not quite the same for Polar.
Look, tariffs and uncertainty are not good for any global business. However, Polar’s strength has always been in its European markets, which will be blissfully unimpacted by Trump’s tariffs, at least directly. Estimates suggest that around 25-30% of Polar’s business comes from the USA, significantly less than Coros and Garmin, the latter being made in Taiwan (with COO as Taiwan). In this respect, Polar is probably in a better position than Coros.
