W.Watson and Sons Level

The extract below is from Scientific Instrument Makers and Dealers in Victoria, 1840-1914

by H. C. Bolton and Nicola H. Williams.

1. WATSON, W. & Sons (William Watson) Dealers, Optical Instrument Makers
2. 251 Swanston St. 1891 - 1892
    78 Swanston St. 1893 - 1914
3. The firm of W. Watson & Sons was founded in London in 1837, where its address was
313 High Holborn, two doors from Chancery Lane. It is known to have had catalogues from 1884 to 1914. A branch was started in Melbourne in 1888 by two nephews of W. Watson who came from the UK to represent the firm in Melbourne at the Centennial Exhibition and afterwards. (The agency was run by the brothers H.H. and F.L. Baker [q.v.] who may have been the Watson nephews). The firm had a large stock of goods from the London branch which produced optical and other scientific instruments including photographic, cinematographic, and X-ray equipment and apparatus for high-frequency electric currents used for therapeutic purposes and in wireless
telegraphy.  

The firm was in the forefront of English makers of microscopes, especially those for medical students, and microscope specimen slides were sold. The firm also sold optical and field glasses,
and conducted eye testing. It had workshops for repairs and adjustments, was a contractor to the Australian Government for surveying instruments and to the War Office for telescopes, field glasses and heliographs.

In 1883 the firm's name was changed to W. Watson & Sons when William's son, Charles Henry Watson, joined the business. 

​This level would have been imported from London in the 1890s.

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Also see the Watson and Son level elsewhere on this site.