Ebony Jewellers has traded under the black-and-gilt corner shopfront at 20 South Street for forty-two years. Founded in 1983 by Simon Tilley; today the bench is run with his sons Cian Tilley and Seamus Tilley. Bespoke design sketched at the counter and made in the workshop upstairs; a forty-year rotation of Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco antique pieces in the cases below; ring resizing and chain repair through the workshop; Rolex, Cartier and Omega service over the same counter.
Share the idea at the counter with Cian or Seamus. Preliminary sketches and a transparent cost come back within the week; the design is rendered before any metal is touched. The piece is hand-crafted in the workshop above the shop and ready in four to five weeks. Platinum, 18ct white, yellow and rose gold, 9ct white gold. Sapphires, emeralds, rubies, tanzanite, aquamarine, natural and lab-grown diamonds.
Forty-plus years of buying instinct, walked through the cases at the counter. Victorian mourning lockets, Edwardian sapphire-and-diamond clusters, Art Deco platinum-and-onyx, Art Nouveau enamel work. Each piece passes the bench before it goes in the window. We also buy in vintage jewellery, so the rotation is fresh; the sandwich-board at the door has not changed in twenty years.
Ring resizing up to five sizes in platinum, 9ct, 18ct, 22ct and silver, hallmarks preserved. Invisible-solder chain repair, new clasps (lobster, bolt-ring, padlock). Claw retipping, stone replacement matched on cut, colour, clarity, carat. Shank replacements, rhodium plating for white gold. Ultrasonic clean included with every repair. Standard turnaround two to four weeks, same-day options available, text on completion.
Mechanical service, battery, strap, dial restoration. Three names are on the door for a reason; Cian and Seamus have spent fifteen years learning which jobs the Chichester bench handles and which go out to a Swiss-certified workshop with full traceability. Either way, the watch comes back to you over the counter at South Street, not through the post.
For four decades the black-and-gilt corner shopfront has been an unmistakable landmark on the South Street parade, a few doors south of the Market Cross. Simon Anthony Tilley took the keys in 1983, opened the cases, and built a forty-year reputation on Victorian, Edwardian and Art Nouveau pieces, a buyer's eye for the right antique stone and the right modern setting, and a workshop above the shop that does its own ring resizing, claw retipping, rhodium plating and bespoke commissioning.
Today the day-to-day is run by his sons, Cian Tilley and Seamus Tilley. The boys have brought the bench into 2026: CAD rendering before any metal is cut, the Shopify storefront, Klarna at the counter, partnerships with Rolex, Cartier and Omega for service work. The forty-year buying instinct is the engine; the modern overlay is the wrapping. Same shop, same family, same insistence on doing the bench work in Chichester.
“Seamus and Simon were absolutely fantastic. Couldn't have asked for a better service.” From a customer review of the bespoke service
The first consultation at the counter is free and obligation-free. The agreed design goes into CAD; you see the render (scale, stone proportions, setting style, finger profile) before any metal is touched. The render is the contract; the ring you collect is the ring you signed off.
Ring resizing in platinum, 9ct, 18ct, 22ct gold and silver, hallmarks preserved. Invisible-solder chain repair. Claw retipping with worn-tip replacement. Stone matching on cut, colour, clarity and carat. Shank replacement. Rhodium plating on white gold. Ultrasonic clean included with every repair. Standard two-to-four-week turnaround, same-day options available, text on completion.
Mechanical service, battery, strap, dial restoration. The straightforward work happens at the South Street bench; the certified service work goes to a Swiss-certified workshop we have used for years, with full traceability. Either way the watch comes back over the counter at 20 South Street.
A short form to start the conversation. The sketch session itself is at the counter at 20 South Street; the form is for a first email back so we can plan the visit and the budget before you come in. Most bespoke commissions run four to five weeks from approved design to finished piece.
20 South Street
Chichester PO19 1EJ
Phone · 01243 776678
WhatsApp · 07783 765278
Email · contact@ebonyjewellery.com
Walk-up · A stone's throw south of the Market Cross; five minutes from Chichester Cathedral; ten minutes from the train station.
Six days a week. Half of South Street shuts on a Wednesday afternoon; we do not. Walk-ins for valuations and small repairs; bespoke is by appointment so one of the boys can sit with you properly.
The bespoke work is hand-crafted in the workshop above the shop. The CAD render, the casting, the setting and the finishing all happen on the premises. The few jobs that need a specialist (a very particular hallmark stamp, a complex enamel restoration) we farm out to named workshops we have worked with for years, and we tell you who and why before we send the piece. Most rings never leave 20 South Street.
Four to five weeks from approved design. The first sketch session at the counter is free and usually takes thirty to sixty minutes. The CAD render comes back within a week. Once you sign off, we start the metal. Engagement rings on a deadline (proposal weekends, anniversaries) we work back from the date and tell you up front whether we can hit it.
Yes, and remodelling is some of the work Cian most enjoys. Bring the piece in, leave it with us for a sketch session, and we will draw two or three options that use your stones in a setting that suits how you actually wear jewellery. We will also tell you when the original is better left alone; not every inherited ring should be remade.
No. The consultation, the sketches and the CAD render are free and obligation-free up to the point the design is approved. You only commit when you sign off the CAD and we cut the first metal. If we sketch two options and you take both away to think about, that is normal; most couples do.
We buy at the rate the metal is worth on the day, less a fair margin for the time and the verification. We will weigh the piece, identify the carat, and quote a price at the counter; you can take the cash, the bank transfer, or trade it in against a bespoke commission. We have the daily LBMA price up at the counter; the rate is the rate, and we show our working.