Watson was born in Tauranga in 1976 of Ngāi te Rangi descent.
[3] He attended St Peter's School in Cambridge where he received his first introduction to new music and Stockhausen.
[3] Although he enrolled at Victoria University of Wellington to study piano he ended up studying composition becoming inspired by composers John Psathas, Jack Body, Ross Harris, Dylan Lardelli and Chris Gendall.
[3] He graduated with a PhD in 2007 from Victoria with his thesis on the impact of music notation software on composing.
[3][4][5] Watson's works have been performed by orchestras and ensembles in New Zealand, Western Australia and Japan.