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Income Taxes (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended
	Apr. 04, 2015	Mar. 29, 2014
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]
Unrecognized tax benefits, balance at the beginning of the period	$ 19,596,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits	$ 24,716,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
Other changes in uncertain tax benefits	933,000wat_OtherChangesInUncertainTaxBenefits	(812,000)wat_OtherChangesInUncertainTaxBenefits
Unrecognized tax benefits, balance at the end of the period	20,529,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits	23,904,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
Expected change in unrecognized tax benefits in the next twelve months	$ (5,000,000)us-gaap_SignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIsReasonablyPossibleAmountOfUnrecordedBenefit
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Effective income tax rate	15.30%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateContinuingOperations	15.00%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateContinuingOperations

X

- Definition

Percentage of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 12

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32687-109319



Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 13

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32698-109319



Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 235

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08.(h)(2))

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690



Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher SEC

-Name Regulation S-X (SX)

-Number 210

-Section 08

-Paragraph h

-Subparagraph 2

-Article 4

+ Details

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- Definition

The amount of the unrecognized tax benefit of a position taken for which it is reasonably possible that the total amount thereof will significantly increase or decrease within twelve months of the balance sheet date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 15

-Subparagraph (d)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32718-109319

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- Definition

Amount of unrecognized tax benefits pertaining to uncertain tax positions taken in tax returns.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Glossary Unrecognized Tax Benefit

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6527854



Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 15A

-Subparagraph (a)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=SL6600010-109319

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- Definition

The amount of change in unrecognized tax benefits resulting from changes in all other tax positions.

+ References

No definition available.

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