Relojes Centenario

Relojes Centenario or Centenario Clocks is the first manufacturer of monumental clocks in Latin America. It was founded by Alberto Olvera Hernández in the municipality of Zacatlán, Puebla, Mexico as a workshop on the family farm when he was a teenager. His first clock was for the family farm but the next one went to the main church in Chignahuapan, which still functions to this day. The name Centenario was adopted in 1921 to mark the centennial of the end of the Mexican War of Independence. To date, the company has built over 2,000 monumental clocks for churches, government buildings and more as well as repaired Mexican and European built clocks. There are Centenario clocks in most part of Mexico and the company sells abroad as well. In 1993, the company opened a Clock Museum in the upper level of the factory, with both the museum and factory open to the public free of charge.

Alberto Olvera Hernández was born on March 2, 1892 at the Coyotepec farm outside the town of Zacatlán, Puebla. He showed a mechanical aptitude early fixing and inventing machines, receiving a patent in 1920 a track changer for electric trains. His interest in clocks came when a clock on the chimney of his home broke down and he took it apart to try and fix it. In 1912, at 17 years of age, he began to construct his first monumental clock using junk and wood from the family farm. He then built a clock workshop at the farm where he would work until 1929, with the business of building clocks already successful enough to have a helper and various apprentices.

He moved his workshop to the town of Zacatlán to establish “Relojes Centenario” (Centenario Clocks) which remains in the same place to this day. His work earned him several honors including a “Honor al Mérito” and the “Medalla Xiutec” from the government Zacatlán in 1966. He died in the town in 1980.

From 1918 to the present, Olvera Hernández and Centenario has manufactured more than 2,000 which have been installed in churches, municipal palaces, other government buildings, towers, shopping centers, hotels and other places. They have restored and automated more than 600 monumental clocks of European origin. They service clocks in various parts of Mexico, and train locals in the care and maintenance of clocks they install.

The first clock installed outside of the family farm was the clock for the Santiago Apostol Church in Chignahuapan in 1919, which took a year to build. This clock is still working. The next clock was installed in Libres in 1921. The name Relojes Centenario was adopted that same year, the centennial of the end of the Mexican War of Independence. It is the first maker of monumental clocks in Latin America. In 1930, Olvera Hernandez founded his own homestead called La Quinta María where he installed the second workshop of Centenario. The current location in the center of Zacatlán was acquired in 1966, allowing the company to increase production. In 1975, the business became a legal corporation.

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