[2] Promoted to captain on 31 December 1885,[3] Watson became commanding officer of the cruiser HMS Leander in February 1889 and commanding officer of the battleship HMS Royal Oak in January 1896.

A naval Aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria from 1898 to 1899, he was promoted to flag rank as rear-admiral on 25 August 1899,[5] and appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) the same year.

[6] When Lord Charles Beresford resigned as Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in January 1902, Watson was appointed to succeed him, taking over the battleship HMS Ramillies as his flag ship.

[9] Wilson married, in 1882, Marie Thérèse Fisher, daughter of homeopathic doctor Carl Fischer.

[1] The pair's eldest son, Fischer Watson, was born on 3 September 1884 and also became a Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy.