Collection: Deakin and Francis

Deakin & Francis is England's oldest manufacturing jewellers, tracing its origins back to 1786 in Birmingham's historic Jewellery Quarter — where the company still operates today, in the same building where it began. Now run by seventh-generation brothers James and Henry Deakin, the family-owned firm is renowned for hand-finished cufflinks featuring playful, mechanical designs, alongside signet rings, decanters, and fine accessories crafted using traditional techniques like vitreous enamelling and hand engraving. King Jewelers is proud to carry Deakin & Francis for customers who want heirloom-quality craftsmanship with genuine, centuries-old British heritage behind it.

Deakin & Francis traces its roots to 1786, when Benjamin Woolfield established a jewelry business in Birmingham. The firm changed hands and names several times over the following century — passing to Charles Washington Shirley Deakin in 1848, then trading as Deakin & Moore before John H. Francis joined the business in the early 1880s, giving the company the name it carries today. Deakin & Francis Ltd was formally incorporated in 1902, and after the Francis family line ended with the death of Captain J.H. Francis in World War I, the Deakin family has carried the business forward alone ever since. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the firm operated primarily as a manufacturer of silverware and jewelry for other brands, before shifting focus toward its own signature designs — particularly cufflinks with playful, moving details, hand engraving, and vitreous enamel work. Today, the company is led by seventh-generation brothers James and Henry Deakin, who continue to hand-craft pieces in the same Birmingham building the firm has occupied since the Industrial Revolution, marking 240 years of continuous family craftsmanship as of 2026.