He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1567, graduated Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1572, and was ordained a deacon and priest on 7 May 1573 at Peterborough.
[3][4] At that point Nonsuch Palace belonged to Lumley, and Watson wrote a significant Latin description of it,[5] from the 1580s, and surviving in manuscript.
He became Dean of Bristol in April 1590; in 1592 Lumley presented him as Rector of Storrington, Sussex (which post he held until his death); he also served as canon chancellor (in the Wedmore Secunda prebend) of Wells (July 1592[1]–1596).
[2] He became Lord High Almoner in 1595, and Bishop of Chichester in 1596;[1][6] serving as both until death.
[2] He attended Elizabeth I during her terminal illness[1] and at her death bed[2] and participated in the Hampton Court Conference of 1604.