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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope 296 (W. Watson & Sons;
Service microscope; 1937)
W.
Watson & Sons were opticians and camera makers trading from London and
Edinburgh. The company was originally founded in 1837 by William Watson at 71
City Road, and the business continued at this address until 1861, when it
moved to 313 High Holborn. In 1867, the name was changed to W. Watson &
Son. In 1882, the name was changed to W. Watson & Sons. In 1900 the
company acquired the John Browning and Co., and in 1908 the firm became W.
Watson & Sons Ltd. In 1929 they published an advert in the British
Industries Fair Catalogue as an Optical, Scientific and Photographic Exhibit,
highlighting the manufacture of microscopes for medical, industrial, and
educational purposes. Into the 1950s, the company changed their address to 25
West End Lane, Barnet, Hertfordshire, where they stayed until the late 1960s.
In 1957 the company was acquired by Pye of Cambridge and ten years later,
taken over by Philips. By 1970, the manufacture of microscopes was over. Microscope
296 is engraved on the main tube with ‘Service, W Watson & Sons, Ltd,
London’ and the serial number 63424. The original wooden box of this
instrument contains a label with the same serial number and the date of 1937.
This microscope is also engraved with ‘Patent 194099’. The Service microscope
was described in the Watson’s 36th catalogue from c. 1930 as the
most efficient, robust, rigid and enduring student microscope ever offered
for bacteriology, botany, histology, pathology and zoology (Figure 1). At
that time, and according to the maker, this was among the most used
microscopes in British universities.
Figure 1. Watson’s Service microscope as engraved in the 1930s 36th
edition of the Watson catalogue. |
