Antique W. Watson & Sons Ltd Brass School Monocular Microscope circa 1907
This listing is for a compact basic antique School stand monocular microscope by W. Watson & Sons Limited of London.
It dates from around 1907 based on the sequential Watson production number of 8729, which is stamped onto the underside of the base, with the model name and Watson's name and their then London address in High Holborn on the upper surface of the base, which is painted in an original period crackle finish. The Watson School model was produced as a stripped-down very basic stand for use in educational establishments, hence the model's designation.
It's equipped with the bare minimum - just an eyepiece, a drawtube, coarse focus, objective lens (often just one), inclining upper limb, stage with clips and a mirror- that's it. Being such a basic stand there would have been little to have gone wrong with it in a classroom setting and fewer delicate parts for inquisitive little fingers to fiddle with and break. The instrument's main coarse focus is by rack and pinion, which has a fairly smooth action. Fine focus is not fitted. Turning to the optics, this Watson School microscope comes fitted with a nice period graduated brass eyepiece draw-tube and an appropriate vintage 6x magnification eyepiece by Carl Zeiss Jena that's also fitted with internal cross-hairs. I've upgraded the stand by fitting a period Watson three-way turret, so it now comes with two low-power objectives as follows, with the third position covered by a blanking plug.1 inch brass low-power objective by Watson - 4x approx - 16mm brass objective by Voigtlander Braunschweig -10x approx. Overall, the range of magnification provided by this Watson School example therefore ranges from about 24x to a perfectly usable 60x.
The microscope's square stage has original clips and this system is excellent for retaining slides during inclined viewing. Turning to the sub-stage, we currently just have lighting which is via a plano-concave mirror, which is in pretty good condition on its adjustable support arm and gimbal, with good functional silvering to both sides - showing only a little age-related foxing. All controls operate including coarse focus, eyepiece draw-tube and plano-concave mirror.The instrument has been dismantled, lubricated and rebuilt so all controls operate smoothly with the existing Watson hardware, thereby preserving its originality. This late Edwardian example is in mainly original condition and has been fairly well looked after by its former custodians/students, just recently having being fitted with replacement coarse focus thumb-wheels. It benefits from an appropriate set of lenses, a usable stage with original specimen retaining clips and moreover presents really well with some amazing gleaming lacquered brass-work.
The brass-work is in fact in such good condition that it really catches the sun and glints with a warm golden hue. This School microscope is essentially a survivor from the rigours of use within an educational establishment, so should now be preserved for future generations. This is a nice visual and working example of an antique Watson with a good level of patina and wear to the black crackle-finish paint on the cast base unit, which betrays it's age with the brass-work lifting the piece's visual appeal. One for the collector with that hard-to-fill space in their collection of antique instruments.Thanks for looking - please also check out my other listings if you get a chance. Watson & Sons Ltd Brass School Monocular Microscope circa 1907" is in sale since Thursday, January 14, 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, Antigua and barbuda, 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, Japan, New Zealand, China, Israel, Hong Kong, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Bangladesh, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Barbados, Brunei darussalam, Cayman islands, Dominica, Ecuador, Egypt, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Grenada, French guiana, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Saint kitts and nevis, Saint lucia, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Macao, Monaco, Maldives, Montserrat, Martinique, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Paraguay, Reunion, Turks and caicos islands, Aruba, Saudi arabia, South africa, United arab emirates, Ukraine, Chile, Bahamas, Colombia, Costa rica, Dominican republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Kuwait, Panama, Philippines, Qatar, El salvador, Trinidad and tobago, Uruguay, Viet nam.
- Period: 1901 to 1950
- Sub-Type: Microscopes
- Modified Item: No
- Material: Brass
- Type: Microscope
- Antique: Yes
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom