Relojes Centenario

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.

He showed a mechanical aptitude early fixing and inventing machines, receiving a patent in 1920 a track changer for electric trains.

[3] In 1912, at 17 years of age, he began to construct his first monumental clock using junk and wood from the family farm.

[1] 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.

[3] In 1930, Olvera Hernandez founded his own homestead called La Quinta María where he installed the second workshop of Centenario.

In the 2000s, the company experimented with digital chimes including those programmed for funeral songs and “Ave Maria.”[4] According to general manager José Luis Olvera Charolet, each clock is unique with no two quite the same.

Another clock is that in the Nuestra Señora del Roble basilica in Monterrey, which has four faces of four meters in diameter each.

[3] Another clock is in Tulantepec, Hidalgo (near Tulancingo), which chimes the national anthem at 6am and 6pm along with the “Himno Guadalupano” dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The company also repairs many of the country's German and French clocks which were installed in the late 19th and early 20th century.

These include sundials used 2000 BCE, candle “clocks” with markings for hours, and similar timepieces but with oil lamps.

[6] One unique piece is a clock statue of Merlin the magician, whose arms point to the time but only for twelve hours a day.

[7] The museum is reached by walking through the factory, which is open to visitors, who can see all the processes from the smelting of metal to the final test of the completed piece.