Description

Offered for sale is a late model example of Watson’s Edinburgh Student’s Stand-H model microscope in brass – it dates to 1932 based on its serial number 51294.  It’s also nice to see the original Watson guarantee card in the case which confirms its exact date of manufacture as 12th December 1932.  This is probably the best condition example of one of these inter-war Watson Edinburgh models I’ve seen in all the years I’ve been collecting them – which is since about 1988.  There’s no signs of wear anywhere that I can find, and believe me I’ve looked closely.  The lacquered brass-work has retained all its condition and I can’t even find any of the usual rub-marks to the main optical tube, coarse focus thumb-wheels or anywhere else for that matter.  I hope that the listing photos do the instrument justice and showcase its almost unique visual appeal, which will give its new custodian the opportunity to experience the wonder and delight of unboxing an “as-new” Watson, that its very first owner must have experienced some 93 years ago.

Background to this model: 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.  Over that long production cycle Watson regularly updated and improved the model, so what you see here is a fairly late example with many of the final iterations of design and development for this model baked in.  For example, it’s got the later more upright cast brass tripod and the stage is now attached to the limb and tailpiece.  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.  It’s therefore no surprise that this model was adopted as the standard microscope by many institutions, educational establishments, governments and even the British Admiralty.

Turning to the technical details, the instrument stands on a cast brass tripod foot with twin uprights supporting the pivot, with tension lever adjustment and Lister-limb arrangement.  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 its optics, this Watson microscope comes fitted with a period graduated chromed eyepiece draw-tube inside a lacquered brass main optical tube and there’s two vintage eyepieces by Watson that with adequate illumination produce very good bright images:

– No. 2 – 6x magnification
– No. 3 – 8x magnification
(the eyepieces have correct collars)

It’s also got three period objectives and a Watson triple turret which rotates freely with a nice positive feel/click as the objectives align to the viewing position.  The objectives are all Watson Parachromatic as follows:

– 2 inches in brass – 3x magnification and very high working distance
– 2/3rds inch in brass – 10x magnification
– 1/6th inch in brass – 40x magnification
(all objectives have period correct Watson Bakelite canisters)

Overall therefore, the range of magnification available with this Watson ranges from about 18x with the lowest power lens combination, up to around 320x with the highest power combination.

Being a late model Edinburgh-H, the upper limb has an extended tail-piece to which are attached the stage and the sub-stage fittings.  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 good positive feel and give decent x/y sample movement.  It’s fitted with brass 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.  The y-axis also holds position on inclination as it should.

Turning to the sub-stage, we have a ring mount in brass on a height adjustable rack & pinion system with dual-sided thumb-wheel control – also with centering via twin brass thumb-screws.  The instrument comes with a top-mount Watson Universal condenser marked 0.4in 1.0NA, with working iris.  The condenser also swings out as shown, to allow 35mm filters or stops to be inserted just above the iris.  The condenser set-up also has the advantage of good reach, so it can be positioned close to the slide, as may be required for higher magnification applications.  Lighting is via a plano-concave mirror on a rotation/height-adjustable brass support rod with gimbal giving good adjustability, with period silvering that’s in good condition to both sides with just a hint of foxing that doesn’t impact reflectivity.  The mirror rod locates to the underside of the limb tail-piece.

The instrument’s controls and friction surfaces have been lightly cleaned and operate nice and smoothly with just the right feel and there’s very little in the way of age-related signs of wear to any moving parts and friction surfaces.  This instrument presents incredibly well, looking almost “as new” or “just out of the factory” and I’m just about running out of superlatives to describe it.  The lacquered brass-work has a lovely bright quality and the black paint work is so shiny that you can almost see your own reflection in its flat surfaces.  This spectacular condition indicates to me that the instrument has obviously been very well looked after throughout its entire life and it’s in such excellent shape for an inter-war example, that it may have been little-used, being kept as an heir-loom and passed down the generations in single ownership – until that is, it passed into my care.  This example is essentially a truly unrepeatable collectable Watson Edinburgh Stand-H model in perfect condition for a collector or connoisseur – it’ll make a great usable and display item and is offered at a sensible price point for an Edinburgh-H model of this age in such amazing condition.  It also presents incredibly well while being used as a desk-top instrument and will also display rather nicely in a library or home office setting when set up with an antique slide such as the antique slide of a human flea as shown in the listing photos. There’s also the correct storage case with this example, which is also in great condition with internal racking, carry-handle and lock with key present, which is always nice to have. 

Accessories:
– live box in brass
– set of five dark-field stops in brass canister
– 35m blue filter

Owing to the weight and delicacy of this vintage Edinburgh-H microscope, it will be partially dismantled, very very well wrapped for shipping in order to preserve its surface finishes and dispatched by insured courier upon receipt of cleared funds.  

Thanks for looking.