Marcolino marks its centenary with more than 200,000 lights on its façade in Porto this Saturday
Marcolino, the watch retailer founded in Porto in 1926, will switch on more than 200,000 Christmas lights on the façade of its Rua de Santa Catarina shop on Saturday, 14 November, at 6 p.m., in the year it turns one hundred.
The installation uses around 20 kilometres of light wire, and the opening show brings together 20 artists and around 50 design and production professionals, according to the Agência de Informação Norte. The organisers expect more than 10,000 people, roughly the number who attended the previous edition. The lights stay on until 6 January.
"Celebrating 100 years is a source of great pride, but also a responsibility," said Miguel Neves, Marcolino's chief operating officer. "This year we want to take the experience to a new level, also because of the symbolic importance of the centenary." One of the challenges, he added, is ensuring a safe experience for thousands of people on one of Porto's busiest streets.
A hundred years of watches in the heart of Porto
António Marcolino opened the business in 1926 on Rua de Santo Ildefonso and moved it in 1937 to number 130 Rua de Passos Manuel. In 1962 it passed to Adriano Magalhães, who kept the name, and in the 1970s to the goldsmith José Moura, before being bought by the Neves family, who still run it today. In 2011 Marcolino opened its Rua de Santa Catarina space, in a listed Art Nouveau building whose façade was restored in 2016, for the firm's 90th anniversary.
The centenary programme rests on four pillars: people; history, with a research project led by historians into the firm's origins; community, with a charitable initiative alongside local institutions; and culture.
A new shop across the street, at the end of 2027
The Neves family is preparing to convert the building opposite its headquarters, the twin of the Café Majestic building, into a new shop and apartments, designed by the architect Álvaro Siza Vieira. The opening, originally planned for the centenary year, has moved to the end of 2027, Miguel Neves told Jornal de Negócios, which puts the investment at 16 million euros.
Find out more on the retailer's website.
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