The Jewellery Workshop, Abergavenny, to close after 40 years

For 40 years, David Butler and his business partner Lawrence Rendall have been using increasingly rare skills to keep the pendulums swinging and the old clocks ticking in Monmouthshire, but not anymore. 

Mr Butler and Mr Rendall, who run The Jewellery Workshop, on Monk Street, Abergavenny, have decided to retire.

David Butler at work as a horologist (Image: freelance)

The pair have worked at their back-to-back work benches for longer than they can remember. 

Mr Butler, the horologist, and Mr Rendall the jeweller, have never aimed high. Just high enough. And that suited them fine. As the world changed, their business has not.

The business does not have online advertising or social media. Mr Rendall's and Mr Butler's reputation spread by word of mouth, which reached out of Abergavenny across South Wales and beyond. 

(Image: freelance) Lawrence Rendall in his workshop as a jeweller.

Frank Duffin posted of his experience in the shop on Google: "What a pleasant experience. Old fashioned service from two gentlemen who treat every customer with respect...Made our day out in Abergavenny so much the better."

For those who know, they were the fixit men who brought much loved clocks and jewellery back to life.

"Customers have come from all over. Aberystwyth, Milford Haven, Bristol...I often wondered how they knew we were here. We never advertised. But I think we did it the right way, just let our work speak for itself," said Mr Rendall. 

Before closing for good, the fixers have shown their customers the usual respect and charm that many have witnessed in the last 40 years.

"Thanks very much," said a customer with broad wrists and a new links in his watch bracelet: "How much?"

"No charge," said Mr Butler.

"That's because I can. It's up to me. And you're one of the last," he said.

(Image: freelance)  Lawrence Rendall (L) and David Butler (R) in their shop in Abergavenny.

Horology on the high street is a dying craft. Where luxurious timepieces adorn expensive wrists, the mechanical Swiss watch is a status symbol, maintained and repaired for hundreds of pounds in far away places. 

But here in Abergavenny, this tucked-away business has moved to a different beat.

These are the watches, clocks and jewellery of the people. Crafted, adjusted and worn at a sensible price. And sadly, there is no one to replace them.

And so, when the clock struck four, the door closed - on their business and a way of life.