THE CLOCK & WATCH FAIRS at UXBRIDGE COLLEGE (was Brunel Clock and Watch Fair at Brunel University) and MIDLANDS (Motorcycle Museum)   This page is written and maintained by me, Raffi, of QUICKTEST on behalf of the organisers, because they don't have their own web site. For further enquiries please telephone or email the organiser (Horological Fairs): Carl 01895 834694 or Paul 01895 834357 or email pauldungate@tiscali.co.uk, please do not telephone or email QUICKTEST. UXBRIDGE CLOCK & WATCH FAIR Set Sat.Nav to UB8 1NQ Up until April 2006 this fair was held at Brunel University (where it had been for 18 years) but re-building (scroll down for details) made it neccessary to move to UXBRIDGE COLLEGE (a short distance away) in 2007. SUNDAYS 2008 September 28 December 7 UXBRIDGE COLLEGE is located on the B467, PARK RD, half a mile from Uxbridge Town Centre, a mile south of A40, backing onto the Air Force Base. The venue will be well signposted from the A40 / M40. Map STOCK: £2 million Antique Clocks, Pocket/Wrist Watches, Parts, Books, Scientific instruments & Mechanical music, 70% Unrestored SIZE: 102 stands, clock dealers In the Sports Hall, wristwatch dealers in the main building (more or less). Admission: 9am £5.00, 11am to 1pm £2.50, 1pm-2.30pm £1.00 (under 18s free) STALL RENTAL: Wall & Centre prices in the Sports Hall will remain at Brunel prices (£64 & £57) & all the stands in the main building at the £57 Centre stand price WHY THE MOVE FROM BRUNEL UNIVERSITY TO UXBRIDGE COLLEGE? Brunel is having £40 million spent on its infrastructure and the sports halls is out of action. They will be re-building the roofs and putting in new flooring so that any future events would have to have all the floors protected by laying down boards (a potential hazard). They have lost 400 car spaces from two car parks and there are plans to reduce the parking spaces further which would cause MAJOR parking problems! Finally, the new sports policy is that priority for bookings must be given to sports events.   MIDLAND CLOCK & WATCH FAIR Set Sat.Nav to B92 0EJ   Size: 148 Stands Venue: National Motorcycle Museum, Solihull, Nr. Birmingham, B92 0EJ Directions: Short taxi ride from Birmingham International Rail Station/Airport (M42 Exit 6 at A45 junction; Near M1, M6, M5 & M40) Admission: 9am £5.00, 11am to 1pm £2.50, 1pm-2.30pm £1.00 (under 18s free) Dates: SUNDAYS 2008: September 7 November 2 January 18 REVIEW OF UXBRIDGE CLOCK & WATCH FAIR (The following article by Raffi Katz was published in the Antiques Dealer Newspaper in 1999 - OK, so it is a bit out of date but most of it still applies) "It was an accident really", explains Carl, "I didn't intend to start a Clock and Watch fair at all. I was visiting a similar fair, it was a nice little fair but it only had 35 stalls, so we telephoned around our clock and watch friends and got dozens of them to go along. Then I heard that the organiser wasn't sure about continuing and so I said to my friend Paul, why don't WE start a Clock and Watch Fair? Well we both live in Uxbridge so we looked around and found a good site at Brunel University, and our first fair was in 1988. At that first fair we had 45 stands and 500 visitors. Now, eleven years later, we have 153 stands and attract 1200 to 1400 visitors to each fair. So it was that two enthusiast-collectors (neither are antiques traders) accidentally started a clock and watch fair: Carl, a marketing expert and Paul, a geologist. Says Paul, "This is now the largest Antique Clock and Watch fair in Europe, we have standholders from as far afield as Devon and Scotland and visitors from Germany, Holland, Italy, Israel and U.S.A, it is THE place to meet anyone and everyone who is into clocks an watches, even the British Horological Institute and the Antiquarian Horological Society exhibit. Enthusiasts bring items for advice and invariably end up buying, part-exchanging, selling, or they might buy spare parts or tools, it's that type of fair; in fact 80% of the items for sale have NOT been renovated, and that means it's also a dealer's fair where bargains can be found". This is not to say that this is purely the 'bargain basement' of clocks and watches. Carl estimates that there is £2 million pound's-worth of stock at this fair, and they even have teams of plain-clothes security men actively patrolling. This is a fair that has been thought out in great detail. "Everything has to be right. The population density has to be right, the location must be right, it must be close to a motorway with ample car parking close to the hall, and the hall has to be big enough. Also the ethics have to be right, we're well-aware that the stallholders have to have crowds of SPENDING customers or they won't come again, and at the same time the buyers must find the bargains or THEY won't come again, so we periodically carry out surveys, we will ask ALL the buyers why they have come, where they have come from and how they heard of us; and we will ask ALL the sellers if the fair was worthwhile and if not then why not. Then we analyse the results, think hard about what has been said, and plan accordingly. "Why go to twenty general fairs to find just a dozen watch stalls between all of them? Why travel a hundred miles to an auction merely to find that the clock you wanted had been mis-described? Here we have a significant part of the U.K.'s clock and watch trade under one roof." He is certainly right. At a general fair you might browse a book stall for the half dozen books about clocks and watches, here there is a large stall where EVERY book is about clocks and watches; at a general fair you might find one military watch in a cabinet of watches and jewellery, here you can choose from a dozen specialists in military watches. As for tools, dials, movements, cases, it seems that every third stall is piled high with them. It's also an easy fair for the sellers, setting up is at 8.15am, packing up starts at 3pm, possibly the shortest trading day of any fair. "We used to run the fair until 5pm but the stallholders complained that there was no business in the afternoon. So I did a survey and found that they were quite right, nearly everyone visits before midday, so what was the point in sitting it out until 5pm?". It is so rare, these days, to visit a fair at which there is frantic activity AND true enthusiasm from the visitors AND satisfaction from the professional traders. This is certainly a fair I would recommend for anyone who is interested (even remotely) in clocks and watches.