Jack Kelly writer
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ICONS AND INNOVATORS: BERETTA
The Robb Report, January 2006
When the beretta family received its first large-scale
commission—to produce 185 matchlock (or arquebus) gun
barrels for the Arsenal of Venice—Henry VIII occupied
England’s throne and Copernicus was making the audacious
claim that the Earth revolves around the sun. The year was
1526. The Beretta enterprise was already 382 years old
when General Motors began making cars and nearly 450
when Bill Gates established Microsoft.
In 1981, Beretta and other venerable firms formed the
Henokiens, which touts itself as the “most private club in the
world.” The club’s name comes from the biblical character
Enoch (Henok in French), the father of Methuselah who lived
on earth for 365 years and then, instead of dying, was
assumed bodily into heaven. Membership does not require a
similarly eternal existence, but to join the Henokiens, a
company must be at least 200 years old. It also must be
owned and managed by the founding family, and it has to be
in good financial health.
The Henokiens founders’ goal was to create for the inheritors
of the world’s oldest family businesses a kind of social club
whose members (currently numbering 35), at their annual
meetings—which take place in a different country each year—
could exchange ideas related to their core philosophy of
valuing the family company over the multinational
corporation. Ugo Beretta, the gun-making company’s current
chief, represents his family’s firm at the Henokiens meetings.
While Beretta may be the world’s oldest gun maker, it is
hardly the senior member of the club. The house of Hoshi
opened an inn near a hot springs in Komatsu, Japan, in the
year 717, and now, 46 generations later, the family operates
a luxury spa on the same site. The Torrinis, goldsmiths who
run a shop off the Piazza del Duomo in Florence, have been
in business since 1369—the same year Chaucer published
his first novel, The Book of the Duchess.
#
Look closely and you will see a hunter, dressed in skins,
working a ramrod down the muzzle of his flintlock. At his feet
is a bird dog, and behind him are mountains and trees. This
scene, with all its detail, is engraved on the underside of a
shotgun trigger guard that is only a half-inch wide. It is an
example of the intricate engravings that adorn the best of
Beretta’s firearms.
To watch a master engraver at work is to observe a series of
elegant gestures. Each movement must be sure, without a
slip. The work requires absolute concentration and
experience that is counted in decades. “It takes 20 years to
become really competent,” Giulio Timpini, Beretta’s chief
engraver, has said, “but it takes at least 30 years to be
perfect.” Timpini began his apprenticeship at age 11 and has
headed the company’s studio for more than a quarter
century. Beretta also assigns jobs to top freelance
engravers, each of whom has a unique style. Some
customers are willing to wait as long as three years for their
services.
To preserve the practice of hand engraving in an age when
lasers and computer-controlled instruments can reproduce
decorative patterns with cookie-cutter accuracy, Beretta, in
1997, established a school dedicated to the craft. Under the
guidance of the masters, the apprentices, who must be
ambidextrous and possess impeccable drafting skills, learn to
cut metal with the burin and to inlay their work with precious
metals.
Beretta’s engravers can decorate all of the metal parts of a
gun. Some engravings they render in the English style, with
floral patterns and intricate arabesques. They also may
create scenes of wildlife, nature, or mythical figures with
almost photographic detail. This type of engraving, known as
bulino, is a specialty of Italian craftsmen.
Only the customer’s imagination limits the options for
decorating a Beretta gun. Racecar driver Jackie Stewart had
an image of his Tyrell Formula One car engraved on a trap
gun, and astronaut Michael Collins’ over-and-under
commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon
landing by featuring his own portrait set against a depiction
of the lunar surface.
Such engravings take time: A master engraver might spend
500 hours or more working on a single shotgun, but when he
is finished, he will have produced a work of art that will
endure for centuries.
#
When Beretta won the contract to supply the U.S. Armed
Forces with their standard sidearm in 1985, it represented a
startling break with tradition. American military personnel had
carried the powerful .45-caliber Colt semiautomatic,
designated the M1911, throughout both world wars and the
Korean and Vietnam conflicts. But in 1978, Congress
decided to adopt a pistol that fired the same 9-millimeter
ammunition as did the guns of America’s NATO allies. The
decision led to one of the fiercest competitions ever for a
military contract.
Beretta was in a good position to compete for the business:
The company had been making semiautomatics since 1915,
and shooters considered its Model 92 one of the world’s
best. During a series of tests that Army ballistics experts
conducted, the Beretta M92 outperformed all of its rivals, but
American gun makers, by filing lawsuits and applying political
pressure, stalled the issuing of a contract to the Italian firm.
The military held more tests in 1984 and in 1988, and each
time the Beretta gun proved superior to the others. Never, an
Army report noted, had “an armament item been so
extensively tested.” When the U.S. government finally
ordered 495,000 Beretta pistols, designated the M9, for U.S.
forces, the firm expanded its Beretta USA subsidiary and
soon was manufacturing all of those weapons in its
Accokeek, Md., plant—a condition of the contract.
The prestige attached to this commission was so significant
that more than 2,000 law enforcement agencies around the
world also have adopted Beretta’s M9 as their sidearm.
Among them are the Italian Carabinieri, the French
Gendarmerie, and the Texas Rangers. The contract also has
affected the collectibles market, driving up prices of rare
1930s Berettas in particular. “Berettas are the Cadillac of
firearms,” says Brad Taylor, a Texan whose Beretta
collection is second in volume only to that of the company’s
museum. “A lot of interest comes from shooters who
purchase a Model 92 and, because they’re impressed with
the craftsmanship, start collecting other examples of
Berettas.”
Through two decades of service, the M9 apparently has met
the expectations of the U.S. military: In July 2005, it ordered
another 70,000 pistols from Beretta.
#
The tangy aroma of fine leather greets you as you enter the
Beretta Gallery on New York’s Madison Avenue. A visit here
is like taking a trip back to the days when a hunter, bound for
an African safari, would first visit a New York purveyor such
as the old Abercrombie & Fitch to purchase his guns and
accoutrements.
The New York Beretta Gallery (other Beretta shops are
located in Dallas, Milan, Paris, and Buenos Aires) carries an
extensive collection of premium firearms, as well as a line of
clothing that bears the Beretta label and includes fashionable
blazers and camouflage hunting jackets. But the shop offers
more, says Beretta vice president Peter Horn, who has
overseen the New York store since it opened in 1994 and
who regularly leads hunting expeditions to Hungary and
Romania. “Service is what drives this business,” he says. “If a
customer in Los Angeles is interested in a particular firearm,
we’ll be on a plane. If a shooter needs his guns serviced
before a hunt, we’ll send a master gunsmith into the field. As
a result, our customers are incredibly loyal.”
# # #
The Robb Report, January 2006
When the beretta family received its first large-scale
commission—to produce 185 matchlock (or arquebus) gun
barrels for the Arsenal of Venice—Henry VIII occupied
England’s throne and Copernicus was making the audacious
claim that the Earth revolves around the sun. The year was
1526. The Beretta enterprise was already 382 years old
when General Motors began making cars and nearly 450
when Bill Gates established Microsoft.
In 1981, Beretta and other venerable firms formed the
Henokiens, which touts itself as the “most private club in the
world.” The club’s name comes from the biblical character
Enoch (Henok in French), the father of Methuselah who lived
on earth for 365 years and then, instead of dying, was
assumed bodily into heaven. Membership does not require a
similarly eternal existence, but to join the Henokiens, a
company must be at least 200 years old. It also must be
owned and managed by the founding family, and it has to be
in good financial health.
The Henokiens founders’ goal was to create for the inheritors
of the world’s oldest family businesses a kind of social club
whose members (currently numbering 35), at their annual
meetings—which take place in a different country each year—
could exchange ideas related to their core philosophy of
valuing the family company over the multinational
corporation. Ugo Beretta, the gun-making company’s current
chief, represents his family’s firm at the Henokiens meetings.
While Beretta may be the world’s oldest gun maker, it is
hardly the senior member of the club. The house of Hoshi
opened an inn near a hot springs in Komatsu, Japan, in the
year 717, and now, 46 generations later, the family operates
a luxury spa on the same site. The Torrinis, goldsmiths who
run a shop off the Piazza del Duomo in Florence, have been
in business since 1369—the same year Chaucer published
his first novel, The Book of the Duchess.
#
Look closely and you will see a hunter, dressed in skins,
working a ramrod down the muzzle of his flintlock. At his feet
is a bird dog, and behind him are mountains and trees. This
scene, with all its detail, is engraved on the underside of a
shotgun trigger guard that is only a half-inch wide. It is an
example of the intricate engravings that adorn the best of
Beretta’s firearms.
To watch a master engraver at work is to observe a series of
elegant gestures. Each movement must be sure, without a
slip. The work requires absolute concentration and
experience that is counted in decades. “It takes 20 years to
become really competent,” Giulio Timpini, Beretta’s chief
engraver, has said, “but it takes at least 30 years to be
perfect.” Timpini began his apprenticeship at age 11 and has
headed the company’s studio for more than a quarter
century. Beretta also assigns jobs to top freelance
engravers, each of whom has a unique style. Some
customers are willing to wait as long as three years for their
services.
To preserve the practice of hand engraving in an age when
lasers and computer-controlled instruments can reproduce
decorative patterns with cookie-cutter accuracy, Beretta, in
1997, established a school dedicated to the craft. Under the
guidance of the masters, the apprentices, who must be
ambidextrous and possess impeccable drafting skills, learn to
cut metal with the burin and to inlay their work with precious
metals.
Beretta’s engravers can decorate all of the metal parts of a
gun. Some engravings they render in the English style, with
floral patterns and intricate arabesques. They also may
create scenes of wildlife, nature, or mythical figures with
almost photographic detail. This type of engraving, known as
bulino, is a specialty of Italian craftsmen.
Only the customer’s imagination limits the options for
decorating a Beretta gun. Racecar driver Jackie Stewart had
an image of his Tyrell Formula One car engraved on a trap
gun, and astronaut Michael Collins’ over-and-under
commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon
landing by featuring his own portrait set against a depiction
of the lunar surface.
Such engravings take time: A master engraver might spend
500 hours or more working on a single shotgun, but when he
is finished, he will have produced a work of art that will
endure for centuries.
#
When Beretta won the contract to supply the U.S. Armed
Forces with their standard sidearm in 1985, it represented a
startling break with tradition. American military personnel had
carried the powerful .45-caliber Colt semiautomatic,
designated the M1911, throughout both world wars and the
Korean and Vietnam conflicts. But in 1978, Congress
decided to adopt a pistol that fired the same 9-millimeter
ammunition as did the guns of America’s NATO allies. The
decision led to one of the fiercest competitions ever for a
military contract.
Beretta was in a good position to compete for the business:
The company had been making semiautomatics since 1915,
and shooters considered its Model 92 one of the world’s
best. During a series of tests that Army ballistics experts
conducted, the Beretta M92 outperformed all of its rivals, but
American gun makers, by filing lawsuits and applying political
pressure, stalled the issuing of a contract to the Italian firm.
The military held more tests in 1984 and in 1988, and each
time the Beretta gun proved superior to the others. Never, an
Army report noted, had “an armament item been so
extensively tested.” When the U.S. government finally
ordered 495,000 Beretta pistols, designated the M9, for U.S.
forces, the firm expanded its Beretta USA subsidiary and
soon was manufacturing all of those weapons in its
Accokeek, Md., plant—a condition of the contract.
The prestige attached to this commission was so significant
that more than 2,000 law enforcement agencies around the
world also have adopted Beretta’s M9 as their sidearm.
Among them are the Italian Carabinieri, the French
Gendarmerie, and the Texas Rangers. The contract also has
affected the collectibles market, driving up prices of rare
1930s Berettas in particular. “Berettas are the Cadillac of
firearms,” says Brad Taylor, a Texan whose Beretta
collection is second in volume only to that of the company’s
museum. “A lot of interest comes from shooters who
purchase a Model 92 and, because they’re impressed with
the craftsmanship, start collecting other examples of
Berettas.”
Through two decades of service, the M9 apparently has met
the expectations of the U.S. military: In July 2005, it ordered
another 70,000 pistols from Beretta.
#
The tangy aroma of fine leather greets you as you enter the
Beretta Gallery on New York’s Madison Avenue. A visit here
is like taking a trip back to the days when a hunter, bound for
an African safari, would first visit a New York purveyor such
as the old Abercrombie & Fitch to purchase his guns and
accoutrements.
The New York Beretta Gallery (other Beretta shops are
located in Dallas, Milan, Paris, and Buenos Aires) carries an
extensive collection of premium firearms, as well as a line of
clothing that bears the Beretta label and includes fashionable
blazers and camouflage hunting jackets. But the shop offers
more, says Beretta vice president Peter Horn, who has
overseen the New York store since it opened in 1994 and
who regularly leads hunting expeditions to Hungary and
Romania. “Service is what drives this business,” he says. “If a
customer in Los Angeles is interested in a particular firearm,
we’ll be on a plane. If a shooter needs his guns serviced
before a hunt, we’ll send a master gunsmith into the field. As
a result, our customers are incredibly loyal.”
# # #