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- Beretta has partnered with Italian watchmaker La Vallée to create the one-off SO10 Kronos shotgun for its 500th anniversary.
- Sapphire crystal windows reveal the shotgun’s internal mechanism, redesigned with watchmaking-inspired engineering and finishing techniques.
- The creation features gold detailing, hand-finished walnut, and a bespoke display case, bringing together two Italian mechanical traditions.
“You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig.“
But this ain’t no Spaghetti Western. When it comes to Italian guns, Beretta has been around longer than just about anyone. The company turns 500 this year, but it’s not celebrating with another commemorative engraving or a gold-plated pistol; it’s enlisted an unlikely partner for a special birthday addition to its arsenal of artisanal weapons: Italian haute horlogerie specialist La Vallée.
The result is the one-of-a-kind SO10 Kronos, an elaborate take on Beretta’s flagship over-and-under shotgun that borrows more than a few trick shots from luxury watchmaking. Think sapphire crystal windows, polished mechanical components and enough intricate detailing to make a Swiss watchmaker look twice.
Now, Australia isn’t exactly the target market for a bespoke Italian shotgun. But if you like gazing through a mechanical watch‘s exhibition caseback, admiring all those tiny moving parts as much as we do, it’s easy to see why a gunsmith has been holstered alongside horology.
1/8When Italian Gunmaking Meets Haute Horlogerie
The first thing you’ll notice is the SO10 Kronos’ transparent side plates, which reveal the shotgun’s internal mechanisms through shaped sapphire-crystal windows, much like a transparent caseback shows off an automatic movement. Rather than simply cutting a basic window into the existing design, Beretta and La Vallée spent years re-engineering the mechanism to make it work.
Those sapphire windows are secured with hand-hammered gold, using a traditional gunmaking technique adapted to accommodate the stresses of the action.
They’ve also redesigned the steel side plates with a new opening mechanism that lets them swing open with a simple twist of the curved safety catch integrated into the crystal. A gold trilobe spring holds the mechanism’s pins in place, replacing conventional screws with a precision-watchmaking-inspired solution.
Beretta’s Roberto Savassi summed up the challenge rather neatly: “If you want to open a glass window on a shotgun, the SO10 is the one.”
Look a little closer, and the watchmaking influence is even clearer. Geneva stripes, polished bevels, gold-plated sleeve bearings and finely grained surfaces give the exposed components the sort of finishing normally reserved for high-end mechanical movements.
Elsewhere, the Grade 5 walnut stock receives 80 hand-applied coats of Tru-Oil, while gold-inlaid engraving and a discreet 500th-anniversary emblem decorate the receiver. Even the bespoke leather presentation case has a glass window, letting the shotgun stay on display without opening it.
This one-off anniversary creation isn’t likely to turn up at your regional shooting range anytime soon. And while a shotgun isn’t exactly what comes to mind when we think of fine watchmaking, it’s hard not to appreciate the mechanical ingenuity behind this rather unusual meeting of Italian crafts.
And if you find yourself in a standoff with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, this Italian-made shotgun might be a little too pretty to shoot. Happy digging.
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