Three masked men, at least one of them armed, robbed the watch shop 'Boutique dos Relógios' inside the Algarve Shopping centre in Guia yesterday evening.
The men entered the shop at around 19.30, one stayed near the door as look out and the other two forced staff to lie on the floor.
One of the men had what the staff rapidly concluded was a hand gun.
Using a hammer one of the men broke the display cabinets and stuffed valuable watches into a bag before they all fled to a waiting car.
The robbers were caught on video but they all kept their masks on throughout the robbery.
As the robbery from beginning to end took under five minutes, security staff at the shopping centre were unable to react in time to prevent the gang getting away.
A staff member at the watch shop alerted the Algarve Shopping security team who immediately called the police.
Nobody was hurt in the incident, nor was anyone in 2012 when the watch shop was last targeted by daylight robbers.