Rare Victorian Celluloid Advertising Thread Winder for Watsons Dundee Whisky, late 19th century

James Watson & Co Distillers was established in Dundee in 1815 and grew into an important bottling and blending company. It owned four distilleries: Glen Ord, Balmenach, Parkmore and Pulteney and also bought all the malt whisky produced at the Cragganmore distillery in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

is remembered for the 1906 fire of Dundee when one of its six-storey bonded warehouses went up in flames. Witnesses reported "rivers of burning whisky" flowing down Dundee streets and a large portion of the neighbourhood around Seagate was destoyed. Firefighters were called from Edinburgh to help fight the blaze which burned for 12 hours.

n May 1923, the Ord, Parkmore and Pulteney distilleries were taken over by three firms - Dewar, Walker and Lowrie, together with eight million gallons of stock, ‘one of the most important stocks of old whisky in the country‘. Following this, Watson‘s began a long decline, though its blends, Barley Bree and No.10, remained available in small quantities until the 1980s.