He served as president of IBM World Trade Corporation and United States Ambassador to France.

His father, Thomas J. Watson, was IBM's founder and oversaw that company's growth into an international force from the 1920s to the 1950s.

His brother Thomas J. Watson Jr. was the president of IBM from 1952 to 1971 and United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union.

Watson's meetings with his Chinese counterpart Huang Zhen in Paris helped to begin normalization of diplomatic relations before the countries had direct ambassadors.

[4] Arthur K. Watson died as a result of a fall on July 26, 1974, in New Canaan, Connecticut, at age 55.