Frank and Bertha Stansfield opened the doors at 11 Bradford Road in 1885, with Samuel Crane as a silent partner whose loan made the rest possible. One hundred and forty years on, Mark Hepworth runs the shop with three bench jewellers in the workshop, OMEGA Approved Service Centre status on the watchmaker's bench, and the same Cleckheaton address on the door. The crane in the logo is for Samuel.
The same doors Frank and Bertha Stansfield opened in 1885.
Mark Hepworth installed the in-store workshops the year he bought the business in 2008. They have not moved since. A piece of jewellery left at the counter is on the bench in the next room, with the workshop window facing the shop floor so you can see it being worked. Clean and polish on a half-day. Ring re-sizing and claw re-tipping inside the week. Shank replacement, stone replacement and full re-modelling within the month, every step photographed and signed off by a second jeweller before it leaves the workshop.
We are not a postal hub. There is no logistics company between you and the jeweller doing the work. That matters most on family pieces, where the difference between "the second-best repair" and "the right one" is a conversation across a counter rather than an email back through a customer-service portal.
Clean and polish, claw re-tipping, ring re-sizing, shank replacement, re-modelling, stone replacement. Every repair runs through our own bench, not a postal hub. Each piece is signed off by a second jeweller before it goes back across the counter. Every jewellery repair carries a 12-month guarantee. The workshop window faces the shop floor, so you can see your piece on the bench while you wait.
Robert Openshaw is an OMEGA Approved Service Centre, the same designation Mappin & Webb on King's Road carries, here in Cleckheaton. Routine batteries, strap and pin sizing, regulation, gasket and crystal swaps for the Seamaster and Speedmaster families. Full mechanical services routed through OMEGA's Swiss workshop on the documented service path. Battery work for Seiko, Citizen, Tissot, Festina, Rotary, Bering and Ted Baker handled over the counter.
Independent written valuations for insurance, probate and family settlement. NAG-registered specialists who value contemporary through antique pieces. £25 for pieces valued up to £2,500, 1% of total value above. Probate work at £10 per item with a £25 minimum document fee. We charge a fixed fee rather than a commission, so the valuation has no incentive to drift up. Pieces stay insured on our premises while the report is written.
Your piece on our cabinet floor, sold at the price you and we agreed in writing, with the majority of the proceeds going to you. Settlement is 14 days for in-store sales, 35 days for online, 56 days if a Clearpay buyer takes the piece. Items stay fully insured while on the premises and we cover the credit-card cost, the insurance, and the clean and polish before display.
Three bench jewellers under one roof · over 75 years combined · every repair signed off by a second pair of eyes.
Claw re-tipping and stone replacement · on a piece dropped off the morning before · 12-month guarantee on every jewellery repair.
Cleckheaton’s longest-standing independent retailer · only Burnhills, established 1855, has been here longer.
OMEGA service is by appointment. Every other house is over-the-counter for batteries, sizing, regulation, strap and clasp work.
The doors at 11 Bradford Road first opened in 1885 as F. Stansfield Watchmaker, Goldsmith and Opticians. Frank and Bertha Stansfield were at the bench. Samuel Crane, a silent partner, lent the money that made it possible. In 1892 Frank handed the caretaker of the newly-built Cleckheaton Town Hall a solid gold master key at the opening ceremony.
Frank died in 1906. Bertha kept the bench for 40 years. In 1946 she sold the shop to Robert, a Co-operative Optician and Chemist whose name still sits on the door. Alan and Anne Fairbotham took over in 1982 after a long turnaround. Mark Hepworth, their son-in-law, has been the owner since 2008, a past Yorkshire President of the National Association of Jewellers, the person who installed the workshops you can see behind the counter. The crane on the logo, added in 2014, is for Samuel.
If it wasn't for Samuel Crane, a silent partner who loaned Frank and Bertha the money to start up, we wouldn't be here today.Robert Openshaw heritage page
For an OMEGA service or a high-value piece, we usually ask for a photograph before you bring it in. For an in-store sizing or battery, just walk up to the counter on a trading day.
On the corner of Bradford Road and Cheapside, a five-minute walk from Cleckheaton bus station and ten minutes from the Spen Valley Greenway. On-street parking on Bradford Road and a short-stay car park behind the shops on Cheapside.
For a routine half-size adjustment on a plain band or a simple eternity ring we can often size while you wait, depending on the day and the bench schedule. For a more involved sizing (a shank replacement, a tension-set stone, a wedder with engraving to recut), we take it onto the bench and turn it round inside the week. Every jewellery repair carries a 12-month guarantee.
Yes. We carry OMEGA Approved Service Centre designation. Routine work (battery on a quartz, bracelet pin-sizing, strap change, gasket and crown swaps, regulation, crystal replacement on Seamaster and Speedmaster) is done in-house. A full mechanical service on a modern coaxial movement is sent on the documented OMEGA service path to the Swiss workshop and returned with the OMEGA service warranty. We also handle Seiko, Citizen, Tissot, Festina, Rotary, Bering and Ted Baker watches over the counter.
For pieces valued up to £2,500 the fee is £25. For pieces over £2,500 it is 1% of the total valued figure. Probate work is £10 per item with a £25 minimum document fee. We charge a fixed fee rather than a percentage commission so the valuation has no incentive to inflate, and we are NAG-registered (National Association of Jewellers).
Same address. The original business opened in 1885 as F. Stansfield Watchmaker, Goldsmith and Opticians at 11 Bradford Road, with Frank and Bertha Stansfield at the bench and Samuel Crane as a silent partner. Robert bought it from Bertha in 1946. Alan and Anne Fairbotham took it on in 1982. Mark Hepworth, their son-in-law, has been the owner since 2008. The shop is now the longest-standing independent retailer in Cleckheaton town centre, second only to Burnhills which opened in 1855.
The bench needs a clear day. Three jewellers on the workshop schedule, plus the OMEGA service queue and the valuation desk, means Wednesday is set aside for case-work rather than retail. We open Monday and Tuesday 9:30 to 16:30, Thursday and Friday 9:30 to 17:00, and Saturday 9:30 to 13:30. Last entry is ten minutes before close for security.
Yes, and it is our most popular method. Your piece sits in our cabinet at the agreed price. When it sells, we keep a small pre-agreed written commission and you keep the majority of the proceeds. Settlement is 14 days in-store, 35 days online, 56 days for a Clearpay purchase. The piece is insured on our premises throughout and we cover the credit-card costs, the insurance and the clean and polish before display.