At 110 years old, Relojoaria Amaral, in Ribeira Grande, is the oldest watch shop in São Miguel. A family business preserved over three generations, it is now owned by Fernando Amaral, the last watchmaker in the municipality and one of the last in the region. Diário da Lagoa embarked on a journey into the past to rediscover the history of this century-old business.
Walking down one of the historic streets of the parish of Matriz, in the municipality of Ribeira Grande, more specifically Rua Nossa Senhora da Conceição, you can find a century-old building where an old trade is still being preserved and is on the verge of disappearing.
Relojoaria Amaral, with the number 9 above its green door, was opened 110 years ago in 1914 by watchmaker José Ernesto Amaral. His son Aristides Vasconcelos Amaral inherited the trade, which he passed on to his son Fernando Amaral.
More than a century later, the Amaral watchmaker’s shop remains the same; visiting it is like traveling back in time. As you enter, on the left, you can see the watchmaker at work, preserving his craft, with a magnifying glass in his eye, surrounded by watches, parts, and tools. On the right are clocks on the wall, old photographs, memorabilia, a cage with two canaries, and potted plants adorning the floor.
Fernando Amaral, 79, from Ribeira Grande, is the oldest watchmaker on the island of São Miguel and one of the last in the Azores. He told Diário da Lagoa (DL) about the origins of watchmaking: “My father learned from my grandfather and I learned from my father. I’ve been here since I was 15, when I left high school,” Fernando recalls.
His grandfather was from Vila Franca do Campo and moved with his family to Ribeira Grande when Fernando Amaral’s father was 14, where the watchmaking business began in the year the First World War broke out.
The Ribeira Grande watchmaker remembers how he got started in the trade. After his second year of high school, Fernando Amaral decided to leave school despite his father’s insistence that he stay. “I wanted to go into watchmaking,” and so it began. ‘I don’t regret not having studied more,’ he confesses. In the beginning, he apprenticed with his father, watching how things were done: “I didn’t touch watches for four years, I just watched my father. Then I started with big watches and I’ve been here for 65 years,” he told DL.
Unable to imagine doing anything else, Fernando says he loves what he does, even though the workload is less than a few years ago. He opened his watch shop from Monday to Saturday for over six decades. The shop is open from 10:00 or 10:30 to 17:00, with a lunch break from 12:00 to 14:30.

But life isn’t all work, and Fernando Amaral dedicates his free time to his love of physical activity. “I’m used to going to the beach. I go bathing in the sea, summer and winter, rain or shine, on Saturdays and Sundays,” he tells us. He also enjoys hiking, which he has been doing for several years. “I always keep fit,” he boasts.
“I’m happy,” the watchmaker told us, but he also shared how much he misses his late wife, Ivelina Maria, a native of Ponta Delgada. He recalls the trips abroad he made with her and their good relationship.
On the past and present of his profession, the watchmaker explains that it was more profitable in the past. “My father earned much more than a civil servant at the time,” he recalls. However, conditions are different now, and there is less demand. “It was nothing like it is today. It’s very different now, even monetarily. We used to earn a lot here. It was a different life, different watches, stringed, mechanical. Today they’re all electronic and battery-operated,” recalls Fernando Amaral.
As for the future, although Fernando Amaral has four children and six grandchildren, none of his descendants have shown any interest in learning his trade. “I was the last of the family to learn watchmaking.” Although the fate of this century-old business is uncertain, as long as he can, Fernando Amaral intends to do what he loves and keep Relojoaria Amaral in Rua Nossa Senhora da Conceição, as it has been for almost 111 years: with its doors open, preserving a family heirloom and a profession that is on the verge of extinction.

Story and pictures by Journalist Mariana Rovoredo, for Diário da lagoa-Clife Botelho, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.