Today, the A.S. Watson Group boasts the world’s largest portfolio of retail formats and brands, along with the most extensive global geographical footprint. The history of Watson’s Water began in Hong Kong in 1903. The company established its water division to provide the population with clean, safe bottled drinking water, as the public water supply at the time was considered impure.
The “Torpedo” bottle—bearing the inscription “A.S. WATSON & CO LTD • HONG KONG • CHINA & MANILA • TRADE MARK”—stands as a milestone in this history. The Watson Museum commemorates the opening of the first pharmacy in Hong Kong in 1841.

My experience today proves it. The current theme on the American collector site “HARDCORE” Bottle Collectors is pictorial bottles featuring “creatures.” As a friendly torpedo I post my English multi-location bottle from around 1890—marked “A.S. WATSON & CO LTD • HONG KONG • CHINA & MANILA • TRADE MARK”—in connection with this theme. While browsing, I come across Kristelmae Sierra. She happens to be selling the exact same, rather rare bottle today—all the way over in New Zealand! On my Pinterest board https://uk.pinterest.com/spirit…/the-spirit-of-eggbottles/, we appear as pins 8026 and 8027. Cheerzz from Potsdam/Germany to the worldwide “fizzy family” from http://www.hjktext.de

this tuesday. spiritschweppes’ fizzy family (https://uk.pinterest.com/spirit…/the-spirit-of-eggbottles/) met up with and gathered the “HARDCORE” bottle collectors from Americas leading bottlesite on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/330426714114036).

Mail from New Zealand. Unique beings with rare objects come together. That is the spirit of peaceful torpedoes. https://uk.pinterest.com/spirit…/the-spirit-of-eggbottles/

The steam engine facilitated the transition from artisanal manufacturing to mass production involving assembly-line workers. In the 19th century, innovative consumer products—such as gas-tight soda bottles, flavored toothpaste, and potent hair-growth tonics in tins—became pioneers of modern marketing. Today, these artifacts of that transformation are sought-after antiques worldwide. After all, the rise of mass production coincided with the emergence of the “throwaway society,” meaning most of these early branded products ended up in the trash.
It is the often-maligned metal detectorists and excavators who now dig for these imperishable treasures in riverbeds, early landfill sites, and hidden spots along old railway lines. While most of them make their discoveries in the ash and soil, I make mine online.

https://uk.pinterest.com/spiritschweppes/the-spirit-of-eggbottles/ What is the “Fizzy Family” on Pinterest all about? A vessel of some kind for transporting drinking water is arguably humanity’s most indispensable invention. Today, PET bottles are a ubiquitous part of global logistics—a fact to which our rivers and oceans can sadly attest. Among all the historical precursors, I have specialized in “torpedo bottles” and their history. My research concept: acting as a “Digital Digger” for my private marketing collection, I gather information about torpedo bottles and the people who owned them. The goal is to build a global community and deepen our collective knowledge. It is a somewhat lonely pursuit for the Fizzy Family, however, because real diggers prefer being out in nature to sitting in front of a screen. But thankfully, they do make an exception now and then.

Ulrich Wappler (1936–2026). Long live the MASTER BREWER who invented his non-alcoholic beer in Berlin in 1972. Read more in the spiritschweppes marketing cabinet.

https://www.linkedin.com/…/deutscher-brauer-bund-e…/…

Bottles from the British Empire—exclusive storytellers in the spiritschweppes´WUNDERKAMMER—line up around the German “Wichtel” (gnome). Here, you’ll find more refreshing tales about Spa and Selters, the closest relatives of Coca-Cola. http://www.hjktext.de

Hier gräbt ein digitaler Digger nach Marken im Müll des 19. Jahrhunderts.

Die Funde sind Raritäten und zukünftige Antiquitäten aus dem globalen Müll der Wegwerfgesellschaft. (Dank an Charles Kripgans für seinen authentischen Dig on Screen). Als Marketingcabinet dient ein Schaudepot, es bietet historische Markentechnik und Produktdesign zum Begreifen. Dahinter steht das gesammelte Wissen von Ausgräbern, Sondengängern und Sammlern aus aller Welt. Schwerpunkte der Sammlung sind deutsche Weltmarken-Macher: Maria Farina von 1709, Faber Castell von 1761, Jacob Schweppe von 1783, Heinrich Nestle von 1867.

Das marketingcabinet spricht Schüler, Betriebswirtschaftler, Rotarier oder Historiker gleichermaßen an. Denn verblüffend ist: Kein anderes Produkt erzählt die Geschichte des Markenartikels plausibler als das Trinkwasser. Es ist für jeden unverzichtbar, ohne Verpackung zerfliesst es in den Händen, ohne Logistik ist es nicht verfügbar, erst ein Mehrwert macht es konkurrenzfähig. Coca Cola, ein Wasser mit Wirkung, wurde nicht umsonst zur bekanntesten Marke der Welt – bis Apple kam. Die Einladung gilt für alle. http://www.hjktext.de

spiritschweppes´ Fizzy Family is keeping their fingers crossed… https://uk.pinterest.com/spirit…/the-spirit-of-eggbottles/