This post is also available in: Italian
I admit it: until a few years ago, I had never heard of the Berios brand. I discovered it after my mother passed away, when I found some of my father’s forgotten watches in a drawer of an old dresser at our country home. This small vintage collection included a pair of typical 1970s steel Berios with a tonneau case, a silver-plated dial, faceted indexes, a plexiglass dome and a rice-grain bracelet.
The two watches are quite similar, but one stands out to me because it has the day-date function split into two separate, opposite windows: the date at 3 o’clock and the day of the week in Italian at 9 o’clock. How curious! I set it to the correct time, wound it up, and it worked! Incredibly, given that it must be almost fifty years since anyone has used it. I decide it deserves an overhaul and take it away.
Quattro decadi di storia
Over the next few days, I set out to find out more about the brand, but I couldn’t find much information about it online. Not that I expected much. As is well known, the internet has a short memory, does not accurately reflect recent history, and is often unreliable. Watchmaking forums contain contradictory information. Some claim that the name originates from an Italian watchmaker based in Brescia named Bertoli José. Others, however, trace its origins back to Thuya, a company founded in 1924 by A. & A. Gilomen in Lengnau, near Grenchen in the canton of Bern. The latter produced watches under various brand names, including Berios and the more famous Delma, introduced in 1952.
So it seemed like destiny when I was contacted a few months ago by the current owner of Berios. He told me that the brand was registered in Milan and that the application was filed on 4 June 1960 by José Bertoli. Mrs José Bertoli − I emphasise the gender − owned the eponymous watch and jewellery shop in Brescia. She was certainly a remarkable woman to have imposed her own brand on the watch industry over 60 years ago. But let’s not wander. According to the time guarantee certificates, production was based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, home to traditional watchmaking and a name that certainly needs no introduction.
What happened?
Berios has been operating for around forty years, producing small batches of items in limited quantities. It has an extensive distribution network, with representatives in all Italian regions, and an impressive catalogue containing an average of 45 new items for men and women each year. Thanks to its good value for money, the company has earned an excellent reputation among enthusiasts.
Then, in the 1980s, ownership of the company was transferred to the heirs. They formed a partnership with Squale, resulting in diving watches that increased the brand’s notoriety. However, they also closed the business at the beginning of the 2000s, although the reasons are not known. The brand was deregistered in 2010.
The Rebirth: Berios Vintage Watch
And here we are in the present day. In 2018, Fabrizio Vallesi − the owner of a watch and jewellery shop in the Marche region, formerly a Berios dealer − re-registered the brand. The intention was to turn it into a brand for diving equipment. However, this idea did not come to fruition. Nevertheless, Vallesi is now the driving force behind Officina Subacquea, an Italian micro-brand. In 2023, the brand was transferred to the Cioli family, who were already active in the professional electronic chronometers market. It then became the core of the Berios Group.
The next step was unexpected. The acquisition also brought some vintage, unsold products from the warehouse. These then became a source of NOS. For those unfamiliar with the term, NOS stands for ‘new old stock’, meaning brand new watches that have never been sold or worn despite being out of production.
This is how the Berios Vintage Watch project came to be, a venture to which Marcello and Franca Cioli have dedicated themselves with passion and attention to detail. They take pride in every aspect, from packaging to the Instagram profile, and most importantly, the overhaul and warranty of each watch.
Testimonials to the tastes and techniques of yesteryear, the Berios Vintage Watches will be officially presented to collectors on Sunday, 15 June. The venue is the Sheraton Hotel in Padua, at the next Chrono Follia event.
Who knows what will happen next? Here in the editorial office, we are eager to see how the brand evolves. Alongside the vintage watches, we hope to see the development of a contemporary production line that honours Berios’s history while taking it into the new millennium. We are keeping our fingers crossed. In any case, we will keep you updated with all the latest news.
