CCSI Plastic Crowncap Database - Brewer/Bottler
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 Brewer/bottler #2655 | | | Name | A. S. Watson & Co. Ltd |
| | | | | | | | | Extra info | In 1858, Alexander Skirving Watson, a British pharmacist, joined the Hong Kong Dispensary company as Manager. The Hong Kong Dispensary began trading under the name A.S. Watson & Company in 1871. A.S. Watson expanded overseas to the Philippines and China; established a pharmacy and a soft drink factory (1884) in Manila. By 1886 the company had constructed its first factory in Hong Kong, on Stanley Street, registered as a limited company and had also completed its first expansion further into China and to the Philippines. By 1895 the company was operating 35 stores and was producing 300 dispensary, toiletry and perfumery lines.
Watsons Water was established in 1903 to provide pure water in Hong Kong and Mainland China.
The Sarsi drink's introduction can be traced back to the 1920s, when A.S. Watson began producing sarsi in Shanghai and other Chinese cities. In the 1930s, Li Zhiyang, Li Guanling , Huang Youtong , Liang Hanqi, and Wang Zhensan were among eleven people who had worked in Watson's Canton palant and founded Asian Waters in Guangzhou to continue producing Sarsi there and in other mainland Chinese locations. Some of these were sold to Hong Kong and Macau as well.
The Japanese invasion of China in 1937 halted A.S. Watson’s China operations. A.S. Watson resumed business on September 1, 1945.
Hutchison Group (forerunner of CK Hutchison Holdings Limited) acquired a controlling interest in A.S. Watson & Co., Ltd. in 1963. In 2016, A.S. Watson celebrated its 175th anniversary. |
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