Vintage W. Watson & Sons Ltd Edinburgh-H Student's Microscope circa 1930s, Cased

This listing is for a late example of Watson's Edinburgh Student's Stand-H model microscope in brass - it dates to the 1930s. The Edinburgh-H model was produced by W. Watson & Sons Ltd between 1887 and around 1945; its long production run giving us a firm clue regarding just how good this model of microscope was in its heyday and over that long production cycle Watson regularly updated and improved the model, so what you see here is a late model with many such upgrades and modifications essentially baked-in. The Edinburgh stand was originally developed by Watson in collaboration with a professor and lecturer in bacteriology at the University of Edinburgh, hence the Edinburgh designation. With its signature rear cross-member giving that classic "H" look, nice brass-work and shiny black paintwork, the Edinburgh H is a fine example of British optical engineering with a design and style essentially dating back to the Victorian era.

Turning to the technical details, the coarse focus is via rack and pinion, with fine focus achieved via a separate brass thumb-wheel located at the rear of the upper frame which operates an internal lever system. The focusing technique being to achieve near focus with the coarse thumb-wheels, then fine-tune with the single rear thumb-wheel, which only has a fairly small range of movement via its vernier screw mechanism. With the optics, this Watson microscope comes fitted with a period graduated chromed eyepiece draw-tube inside a brass main optical tube and three quality vintage eyepieces that with adequate illumination produce very good images: - 6x magnification - No.

2 with integral draw-tube - 8x magnification - No. 3 with markings for University of Birmingham - 10x magnification - No. 1/6th inch in brass - Watson - 40 x magnification. 1/12th inch in brass - Watson - approx.

100x magnification - oil immersion. Overall therefore, the range of magnification available with this Watson ranges from about 15x with the lowest power lens combination, up to a theoretical 1,000x with oil immersion and very bright illumination.

The fully mechanical stage is an original Watson item in brass with twin thumb-wheels on the right hand side of the stage, together with the addition of a couple of period specimen clips for holding slides steady during inclined viewing and when the axes are being moved around. The freely running x/y controls also offering fine control of specimen positioning, which is a real advantage for higher magnification work.

There's a serial number engraved onto the underside of the stage, which will be the serial number for the mechanical stage itself rather than the main instrument and there are no other visible serial numbers on this example, however, I know from experience and having owned many Edinburgh-H models over the years that this is a late model dating towards the end of the model's production run. Turning to the sub-stage, we have a Watson abbe-type condenser with centering controls comprising twin brass thumb-screws, which sits in a height adjustable rack and pinion mount with twin-sided brass thumb-wheels to adjust the height.

The condenser assembly also has a working iris to control lighting levels and there's a 35mm swing-out carrier fitted for adding coloured, opaque of dark-field filters. Lighting is via a plano-concave mirror on an adjustable brass support arm and gimbal, with period silvering that's in very good condition to both sides. All controls have been lubricated and operate reasonably smoothly with age-appropriate signs of wear including coarse focus, fine-focus, eyepiece draw-tube, condenser rack and plano-concave mirror.

This instrument presents well with gleaming brass-work showing some signs of tarnishing and spotting here and there, but overall it's in pretty good shape for its age with much of the tarnishing present on the condenser thumb-wheels. This example is essentially a nice collectible Watson Edinburgh Stand-H model in pretty good condition and it'll make a great usable and display item and is offered at an attractive price point for this model. It also presents rather well while being used as a desk-top instrument and you can see in one of the listing photos that I've recently been using the instrument on my desk. There's also a large solid Watson wooden storage case with this example, which is actually a later style of case from the 1940s (probably originally for a Watson Bactil or Patna model). It's in good condition for its age with two internal lens racks, re-covered carry-handle and a working lock with that all-important key. Thanks for looking - please also check out my other listings. Watson & Sons Ltd Edinburgh-H Student's Microscope circa 1930s, Cased" is in sale since Friday, October 15, 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, Russian federation.

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