Birmingham watch fair

[Noho]

hello,

There is the Birmingham watch fair this sunday, and I was wondering if it is worth going. Can you find interesting watches for repair/parts and vintage tools, or can you find only watches in working order ?

I live not too far and was thinking having a look, but had a look at their website and doesnt look promising if you're after tools or damaged watches.

 

Thanks !

Chris. 

[HSL]

I think you should see it from another angle, if you go to fairs you will meet new people in the trade and get more contacts don’t be shy talk to people and announce what you are interested in. In the long run I think that is what counts, sooner or later they will have something interesting to sell and they think of you. A bonus is to find something to buy right away.

[JohnR725]

if you look at their website it's hard to tell although it does look promising it does say parts and vintage and tools. then they even have an early entry get in on the good deals.

Interesting that there of the all new not associated with the previous fair? That looks suspicious.

the second link I found somebody shows pictures they were at the old fair looks like they do have miscellaneous stuff and watchmakers tools.

the simple answer is you won't know until you go.

1 minute ago, HSL said:

don’t be shy talk to people and announce what you are interested in

really important is to slowdown. Casually they may only have the really nice stuff out. In other words are trying to get the money back fast selling the good stuff that you're not interested in. So you slowdown you look at everything. often times the miscellaneous stuff might be under the table you have to ask. Then if anyone does have a box of miscellaneous junk go through it very carefully it's amazing what you'll find if you slow down and look at things.

https://www.thebirminghamclockandwatchfair.com/

https://timerestorations.com/blog/the-clock-and-watch-fair/

 

 

[Noho]

thanks guys for your inputs, much appreciated. I think i'll have a go and see how it looks like. As suggested, even if i dont find anything interesting to buy, I can still have some nice chats

[MechanicMike]

wish we had stuff like this over here near me. I'd go in a heartbeat. 

[clockboy]

I used to be a regular attendee but stoped a couple of years ago as I found very few actually selling tools most were selling refurbished clocks. If however you do go the stand to look for is Pennyfarthing tools. The guy who told runs it is Malcombe and he is incredibly knowledgable.  I have used him many times when in pursuit of certain tools.

[JohnR725]

24 minutes ago, MechanicMike said:

wish we had stuff like this over here near me. I'd go in a heartbeat. 

it depends upon how far you want to drive? At the link below you can see were the chapters of the nawcc are. the various chapters can be interesting. At times in their meetings they have a Mart that's where they buy and sell stuff. Where things become really interesting is if they have a regional event or a national meeting. regional meeting is where a whole bunch of chapters get together they could have at least 100 tables are more. The national meetings they've shrunk with time but they usually have several hundred tables I think in the old days some of them could have as many as 1000 tables. All of watch and clock related stuff.

 

https://www.nawcc.org/local-chapters/?chapter=minnesota&submit=Search

[MechanicMike]

7 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

it depends upon how far you want to drive? At the link below you can see were the chapters of the nawcc are. the various chapters can be interesting. At times in their meetings they have a Mart that's where they buy and sell stuff. Where things become really interesting is if they have a regional event or a national meeting. regional meeting is where a whole bunch of chapters get together they could have at least 100 tables are more. The national meetings they've shrunk with time but they usually have several hundred tables I think in the old days some of them could have as many as 1000 tables. All of watch and clock related stuff.

 

https://www.nawcc.org/local-chapters/?chapter=minnesota&submit=Search

i had looked into that last week, I think I'll join. I sent an email. are you a member, John?

[JohnR725]

13 hours ago, MechanicMike said:

are you a member, John?

yes I'm a member of the nawcc and two of the local chapters here.

It's why I can point out that their regional meeting is a really good as it's where I probably purchased a sizable amount of the tools that I have over the years.

[MechanicMike]

3 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

yes I'm a member of the nawcc and two of the local chapters here.

It's why I can point out that their regional meeting is a really good as it's where I probably purchased a sizable amount of the tools that I have over the years.

email sent and response received. on my way.

[Noho]

I went to the birmingham watch fair this morning. A lot of sellers of already restored watches, but quite a bit of pocket watches available for restorations. I didnt buy any watches (several coming from Ebay), but managed to find some good stuff from pennyfarthingtools.

A basic bergeon staking set and an Elma cleaning machine. I spent the afternoon cleaning the staking set, as there was a ring of rust on all the stakes. Fortunately not deep so shouldnt impact the functionality.

I will clean the Elma machine during the week.

 

So quite happy with my visit !