Antique Brass Praxis Microscope by W. Watson & Sons c1919, Cased & Collectable

This listing is for a beautifully presented and quite early antique monocular stand microscope by W. Watson & Sons Ltd of 313 High Holborn, London bearing serial number 24270 dating the instrument to 1919. This model presents with a nice heavy brass horseshoe base (sometimes referred to as a European foot) with black painted finish and age-appropriate patina, which gives the instrument good stability when in use. The lacquered brass to the rest of the instrument is showing a wonderful aged patina consistent with its period and undoubted use and enjoyment over the last century.

It's a really solid heavy well-made piece of iron and brass, perfect for display as well as continued use as intended. If you've read this far, you will probably know just how good antique and vintage Watson instruments are, so please read on for a fuller description of the instrument. The main coarse focus is via rack and pinion, which has a smooth action with just the right level of stiffness and resistance to movement meaning that it holds in position well.

Fine focus is achieved via a brass thumb-wheel at the rear of the upper frame, reminiscent of the fine focus on Watson's famous Edinburgh range of brass microscopes, which moves an internal lever system and also has a smooth operation. The upper frame also tilts and holds in position nicely for inclined viewing. With the optics, this antique brass microscope comes with a chromed eyepiece draw-tube with graduation marks and is supplied with a couple of appropriate quality vintage eyepieces that with good illumination produces excellent images: - 6x magnification No. 2 - 8x magnification No. 3 Plus it's got three vintage brass objective lenses and a period Watson double turret.

The objectives are as follows. Watson 2/3rds inch - 10x magnification with period brass canister - Watson 1/6th inch - 40x magnification with period brass canister - Carl Zeiss Jena 1/12th inch oil immersion - 100x magnification period with brass canister. Overall, the range of magnification available therefore ranges from about 60x to a perfectly usable 800x when using oil immersion techniques with bright illumination. The microscope's rectangular stage has a lovely antique patina and is currently fitted with a single period brass over-sized slide clip which is adequate for holding a slide in position during inclined viewing.

Turning to the sub-stage, we currently have a Watson Abbe-type condenser on a brass plug-in mount which can also be swung out for maintenance or swapping of the condenser, or for microscopy techniques that don't require a condenser to be used. The condenser has a working iris with a smooth action and also a swing out holder for adding coloured, opaque or dark-field filters. Lighting is via a plano-concave mirror which is on a chrome-plated slider giving height adjustment along with a multi-adjustable gimbal; it's got good silvering on both sides showing just a little age-related foxing. All controls operate smoothly including eyepiece draw-tube, coarse focus, fine-focus, condenser iris and plano-concave mirror.

The instrument has been lightly lubricated so all controls now operate smoothly. This example has got rather nice age-appropriate lacquered brass details showing just the right level of spotting and tarnishing, very much in keeping with its age and usage. The brass-work with its wonderful patina really presents well and still catches the sun and glints with a lovely warm golden glow. This Watson Praxis microscope is essentially an excellent piece of Edwardian-era optical engineering and is a sturdy compact-size period microscope in good original condition, fully working, with bags of character and period charm.

Please note that there is currently also a hardwood storage case for this example with brass handle, internal eyepiece rack and also a working lock that's missing its key, so the door is also fitted with a cupboard latch to keep it closed. In summary, this is a great visual and working example of an antique brass Watson stand in highly original condition with good optics and it's essentially very much in collectable and usable condition, displaying amazingly well. Thanks for looking - please also check out my other listings if you get a chance.

The item "Antique Brass Praxis Microscope by W. Watson & Sons c1919, Cased & Collectable" is in sale since Tuesday, July 27, 2021.

This item is in the category "Antiques\Science/Medicine\Scientific Instruments". The seller is "arcboutant" and is located in Glasgow. This item can be shipped to United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Australia, United States, Bahrain, Canada, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, China, Israel, Hong Kong, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Bolivia, Barbados, Brunei darussalam, Cayman islands, Ecuador, Egypt, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, French guiana, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Macao, Monaco, Maldives, Martinique, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Paraguay, Reunion, Saudi arabia, South africa, United arab emirates, Ukraine, Chile, Bahamas, Colombia, Costa rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Kuwait, Panama, Philippines, Qatar, Trinidad and tobago, Uruguay, Viet nam.

Period: 1901 to 1950
Material: Brass
Type: Microscope
Antique: Yes