About Us
In February 1885, Arthur Christopher Davey began a venture that throughout the 20th century evolved into a culture in the manufacture and supply of marine equipment. From humble beginnings in Leadenhall Street, London, the company soon moved to its famous address at 88, West India Dock Road, London E14, where it successfully traded for around 100 years. Today, based in Britain's oldest recorded town of Colchester, we continue the traditions of quality, style and reliability that have been carefully laid down over more than 120 years.
The Davey foundry items are hand crafted from patterns dating back to the early 1900's using traditional skills and manufacturing methods. From portlights, cleats and ventilators through to hasps & staples and skylight lifts, we cast, machine, polish and assemble in the UK so that we have total quality control from ingot through to finished product - a true British range.
Many of our designs have not changed in generations so by style, strength and performance they have been thoroughly tried & tested, so you know they can be trusted. This is particularly important for restoration work when certain original Davey fittings from the 1920's, 30's or 40's have been lost or stolen and exact replacements are required. In some cases, however, the thickness of castings has been increased so that we can improve the performance, machining or finish of the final product. In today's ever demanding world, it is not enough to just repeat slavishly everything that has gone before. At Davey & Company we periodically review our fittings to make sure that they are meeting the needs of today whilst still carrying the style and integrity of yesterday.
Examples of this are our Wykeham Martin furling gears, which have been made stronger, are machined more accurately and polished more carefully, and, with the addition of stainless steel thrust races, run smoother than ever. All this has been achieved by slightly modifying the very old patterns and paying close attention to detail. It is a similar story with our range of bronze portlights, which now have thicker sections, deeper spigots and carry CE approval.
In our broader range, we only select products of quality that are either produced by our long standing colleagues in the UK, or are sourced primarily from trusted European companies that share our philosophy of quality.
One of our prime objectives today is to supply equipment that will help the many skilled shipwrights and enthusiastic boat owners around the world to produce, repair or restore fine craft of all types. With genuine Davey products, the integrity of any craft will be enhanced and for those fittings that are old, lost or broken our custom service can create new ones in the original style.