Description

Offered for Sale – Watson Edinburgh-H c1914 serial no. 19344 – antique stand “H” model.

This listing is for a nicely presented and well seasoned example of Watson’s Edinburgh Student’s Stand-H model microscope in brass – it dates to 1914 based on its serial number 19344.  It’s marked W. Watson & Sons Ltd and post-dates the firm’s move to limited company status which occurred in 1908.  This is a decent example with some signs of wear and still quite presentable lacquered brass-work that’s showing a little age and use-related spotting here and there, but not that bad in reality for an instrument that’s 111 years old and counting.

The Edinburgh pattern model of microscope was produced by Watson 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 mid-production cycle example.  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 and nice lacquered brass-work, 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 construction is a brass tripod in black paint finish, with bun feet that are attached by small brass screws.  From the tripod rise twin uprights to a pivot with tension adjustment available if required.  The upper limb is also in black-painted brass, with stage bolted to the limb and the sub-stage fittings attach to the underside of the stage.  The coarse focus is via rack and pinion with good smooth action that holds in position on adjustment.  Fine focus is operated via a separate brass thumb-wheel located at the rear of the upper limb which operates an internal lever system acting against sprung resistance.  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 brass eyepiece draw-tube inside a brass main optical tube and there’s a good selection of vintage eyepieces that with adequate illumination produce very good bright images:

– 6x magnification – Ernst Letz Wetzlar
– 6x magnification – WRP
– 10x magnification – Unbranded
– 17x magnification – Unbranded

It’s also got four period objectives in total and a triple turret which rotates with a positive feel as the objectives slot into their viewing positions.  The objectives are as follows:

– 1 inch in brass Argus by Watson – 6x magnification with brass cover
– 2/3rds inch brass Argus by Watson – 10x magnification with brass cover
– Unbranded brass objective – approx 20x magnification
– 1/6th inch in brass Argus by Watson – 40x magnification with Bakelite canister

Overall therefore, the range of magnification available with this Watson ranges from about 36x with the lowest power lens combination, up to around 680x with the highest power combination.

The fully mechanical stage is an original Watson design in brass, with twin thumb-wheel adjusters on the right hand side of the stage that have just the right positive feel and give a good range of x/y sample movement.  It’s fitted with specimen clips that are fine for holding slides steady during inclined viewing and when the axes are being moved around.  The x/y controls also offering good control of specimen positioning, which is a real advantage for higher magnification work.  

Turning to the sub-stage, we have a Research sub-stage with two Watson condensers on dovetail sliders as under:

– Abbe-type condenser
– Dark Ground condenser

The condensers are very easy to remove/replace as shown in the listing photos and sit in a height adjustable rack and pinion mount with single-sided brass thumb-wheel to adjust the height.  The condenser assembly also has a working iris to control lighting levels.

For the lighting, there are two options, described below:

1)  Electric illumination via a Watson lamp-house that screw-fits to the underside of the condenser mount.  The 6V bulb therein (shown working in the listing photos) is powered by an American Optical Company low-voltage power supply unit which is supplied as part of this listing.  The power supply has a toggle-switch to adjust the input voltage and hence light intensity and works well.

2)  There’s the original brass mirror rod attached to the limb tailpiece and I will also supply a Watson plano-concave mirror on a gimbal mount with brass support rod.  This can be fitted inside the main mirror support rod as shown in the listing, so that when the electric illumination lamp house is removed, mirror illumination can be used as an alternative lighting system.  The latter lighting option is more suitable for low-power work and is a useful alternative.  The mirror has some slivering losses to both sides but the reflectivity is perfectly usable. 

The instrument’s controls and friction surfaces have been very lightly lubricated with non-hardening grease and operate reasonably smoothly with a nice feel and there’s not much in the way of noticeable of wear to any of the moving parts.  This instrument presents reasonably well for its age and usage profile, with brass-work that catches the light well as I hope the listing photos demonstrate.  This example presents well while being used as a desk-top instrument and will also display rather nicely in a library of home office setting.

There’s an original Watson storage case with this example, with wooden carry-handle and internal racking.  The lock and key are both present, which is always nice to have  There’s the original Watson guarantee/magnification card on the inside of the case door – this confirms the “matching numbers” status of the instrument and is increasingly rare to find with antique Watson instruments nowadays.  Overall, the case has just the right aged look with the right level of patination and a lovely exterior sheen, so complements the antique microscope perfectly.

Owing to the weight and delicacy of this antique Edinburgh-H microscope, the power supply unit and its case, it will be partially dismantled, very well wrapped for shipping and dispatched by insured courier upon receipt of cleared funds.  

Thanks for looking.