The name Watson is derived from Watt, a diminutive form of the personal name Walter, with the addition of the patronymic suffix " -son".

The name Watson is believed to have been introduced to Scotland in the early 11th century, during the reign of Edward the Confessor.

[11] In 1407, William Watson of Cranston obtained a Crown charter of the estates of Traquair and Shillinglaw having purchased them from the Maitlands.

[11] in 1409 the Maitlands granted annual-rents of Griestoun in Peeblesshire, to Marion de Craigie and her son William Watson.

[11] Early Scottish records note that Thomas Watson of Stenhous was party to an inquest near Falkirk in 1426.

[12] The last known Clan Chief recognised by Lord Lyon King of Arms was James Watson Esq.

of Saughton, Charles Watson of Saughton was stated as being "Chief of the name in Scotland" within the contemporary publication "Antient and Modern State of the Parish of Cramond" written by John Philip Wood and published 10 years before the death of Charles Watson in 1794.

of Saughton ended when his daughter Helen Watson married Sholto John Douglas, 18th Earl of Morton.

[26][28] Robert, Commendator of Holyrood Abbey, granted a charter of feu farm of six oxengates of the town and lands of Saughton, in the Regality of Broughton, in favour of Janet Stenhope relict (widow) of Richard Watson of Saughton, in liferent, and his son James Watson in fee, in the year 1537, having resumed ownership of the lands after the family had been dispossessed of them for a hundred years.

[34] Major-general David Watson (1704–1761)[35] was a Scottish Officer of the British Army, serving in the Royal Engineers.

[43] David Watson of Saughton first recorded the chiefly arms in 1672, being "argent, an oak-tree growing out of a mount in base proper, surmounted of a fess azure.

Recent research has revealed that part of his fortune was acquired in the transatlantic slave trade.

Lord Watson was a conservative member of parliament for Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities 1876–1880, Solicitor General for Scotland 1874–1876, Lord Advocate 1876–1880, appointed to the Privy Council in 1878 sat on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

[57] His arms offer an insight into how modern heraldry incorporates the identity of a person: the hourglass refers to his professional body, the Faculty of Actuaries, and the "fess brettessed the crenelles semicircular" (the purple buttressed line crossing the oak) represents the binding between stamps and his philatelic interests.

[59] It is constructed of a maple wood bowl with a silver-gilt band, resting on a silver stem and an inscribed trumpet-shaped foot.

The Watson Mazer is on display as part of the Silver Treasury, level 5 of the Scotland Galleries in Edinburgh.