A History of Innovation

The Early Days

Founded in 1874 by Joseph Watts, Watts Regulator Company, as we were originally known, made its reputation by “Setting The Standard In Valve Technology.”
Joseph Watts		During those early days, Watts manufactured pressure reducing valves to regulate steam and relief valves to ensure safe operation of water heaters and boilers. Watts Introduces the T&P Valve In the early 1900’s, Watts introduced the revolutionary combination temperature and pressure (T&P) relief valve, a protection device for use on hot water supply tank systems. These T&P valves prevented dangerous hot water heater explosions and continue to be an integral part of today’s water heating systems. Explosion Danger Lurks Video Clip Watts’ classic film “Explosion, Danger Lurks!” was used to demonstrate the dangers of unprotected water heaters and helped to establish T&P safety standards on water heaters. T&P valves continue to be an integral part of today’s water heating systems.

Going International

In the 1960’s Watts entered the international market, opening manufacturing plants in Canada and the United Kingdom. Since then Watts has greatly expanded its international presence including the formation of its first joint venture in Tianjin, China in 1994. Today, Watts’ European and Chinese operations have expanded significantly and constitute a significant portion of Watts’ total revenue.

A New Focus on Backflow Prevention

In the 1970’s, Watts entered the new and promising backflow prevention market. Developed to prevent the backward flow of contaminated water into the potable water supply, backflow preventers have become one of Watts’ most successful product lines.

Watts Enters the Retail Market

During the booming 1990’s, Watts aggressively expanded into the retail sales market with the formation of the Consumer Markets Division. This end-user-focused division manages the marketing of all Watts products to large retailers and hardware store chains that sell directly to the consumer. During this time Watts also acquired certification in the International Standards Organization (ISO) 9001 for our commitment to quality in design, development, production, installation, and servicing of our products.

CIRCOR Spin Off

In 1999, Watts spun off its industrial oil and gas business as a separate company named CIRCOR International, Inc. in order to more closely focus our resources on providing our customers with innovative plumbing & heating and water quality products.

Watts Water Technologies Formed

With this renewed focus, Watts Water Technologies, Inc., as we are now known, has expanded its traditional flow control product lines to include water filtration, radiant heat and instrumentation products to address all of the flow control needs of the worldwide plumbing & heating and water quality markets. This broad array of products, designed to ensure Comfort, Quality, Conservation, Safety and Control, enables many of our customers to purchase all of their plumbing & heating and water quality flow control solutions from one source. Thus, from a small machine shop supplying parts to the textile mills of the 19th century, Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has grown into an international manufacturer of Innovative Water Solutions for the plumbing & heating, and water quality markets.