The jewellery quarters in Birmingham (UK): i was doing some searches online and it seems to be a popular place for jewelleries, as in rings and precious stones. Would there be vintage watches in the streets there? Don't want to go there and have to look at Fossils and Rotarys through plastic shelves...hope to find vintage watch brands like Hamilton/Longines etc in 2nd hand shops.

Anyone been there care to share their visits?

 

I used to go there in the mid to late 1990s so my comments may be hopelessly out of date by now.

There were some shops I recall, but really it was a huge collection of artisan workshops, most of which looked unchanged since 1800s, i.e. Dark, dirty and dilapidated; but....they produced super quality stuff if you knew the right people to go to and that was by word of mouth. I have no idea how I could have found the guy who made my wife's engagement ring if I had just visited the Quarter and looked around.

The guy who made my wife's engagement ring had this hovel of a workshop, but in it he showed me how to tell the difference between a high quality diamond and just large blingy crap. He put out a clean white sheet of paper on his old bench, fished around in his worn out tweed jacked and pulled out a bunch of diamonds, mostly about 0.5 to 1 carat and lined them up and showed me which ones were museum grade perfect cut color clarity and when I should start to see a change. I guess he had about 100k of diamonds in his pocket!!!!!
I ended up with a stunning solitaire in a Platinum mount on a yellow gold ring at 0.83 carats which, at the time was a ton of money but miles cheaper than if I had gone to a high street jewellery store.

Just looking around the shops there wasn't what the Jewelry Quarter was about....back then.

 

That's all still true - there are countless workshops above the shop fronts, down back alleys and in the terraced houses off the main roads, all capable of producing stuff that's far better quality and cheaper than the high street jewellers.

The most successful have smartened up their image though - there's a big shopfront to a family jewellers called Victoria James that I recommend to those without the connections to find the smaller outfits. The shop is on a main road. There's at least two generations of jewellers (father and son) trading behind the shop front. They made our wedding rings, adjusted my wife's engagement ring (a unique Victorian piece) and we were very satisfied.

Watch-wise, there are a couple of watchmakers who may have a few vintage pieces and a couple of dealers trading in used watches. Fellows, the auctioneers, are also there. It's not a great place for watch shopping to be honest - you'll pay for the privilege and the selection is limited. Don't expect to find anything on the scale of Somlo or the Burlington Arcade.. it's all about manufacturing jewellers and the diamond trade.

 

This was the guy I was thinking of. As a Fellow of the BHI he ought to know what's what in the JQ......assuming he's still alive and well.

 

We also had a tanzanite pendant made for my wife, in one of the hovels mentioned by Longbow. The guy was a... character. Looked like a wizard. He collected vintage analogue hifi equipment on which he played 70s metal vinyl, and had racks on old servers whirring away at the back of his loft. I shudder to think what was going on there.

The stone was 7 carats, AAA, beautiful - the guy had connections. The process of getting it made was at times difficult, the ultimate end result was fantastic and half of what we'd have paid on the high street. But it definitely takes some guts and determination to work with these people!

 

Not sure how much I can add, but used to live in central Birmingham and often went to the jewelry quarter to sell any knackered gold cases that came in job lots if watches. Certainly for that it's very good, and we also bought our engagement ring and wedding rings from there, for that it's what's cheaper than buying on the high street.

When I first moved to the area I walked around various jewellers looking for vintage watches, and at that time (2004) they didn't gave much and there were quite a few dubious sellers with horrific frankens. In the end, they are bound to be knowledgable so the chance of a bargain seems low.