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Business Segment Information (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Apr. 04, 2015	Mar. 29, 2014
Entity-Wide Revenue from External Customers [Line Items]
Number of operating segments	2us-gaap_NumberOfOperatingSegments
Number of reportable segments	1us-gaap_NumberOfReportableSegments
Product sales	$ 302,873us-gaap_SalesRevenueGoodsNet	$ 284,795us-gaap_SalesRevenueGoodsNet
Service sales	157,531us-gaap_SalesRevenueServicesNet	145,713us-gaap_SalesRevenueServicesNet
Total net sales	460,404us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet	430,508us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet
Waters instrument systems [Member]
Entity-Wide Revenue from External Customers [Line Items]
Product sales	188,504us-gaap_SalesRevenueGoodsNet / us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis = wat_WatersInstrumentSystemsMember	176,364us-gaap_SalesRevenueGoodsNet / us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis = wat_WatersInstrumentSystemsMember
Chemistry [Member]
Entity-Wide Revenue from External Customers [Line Items]
Product sales	78,183us-gaap_SalesRevenueGoodsNet / us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis = wat_ChemistryMember	75,203us-gaap_SalesRevenueGoodsNet / us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis = wat_ChemistryMember
TA instrument systems [Member]
Entity-Wide Revenue from External Customers [Line Items]
Product sales	36,186us-gaap_SalesRevenueGoodsNet / us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis = wat_TaInstrumentSystemsMember	33,228us-gaap_SalesRevenueGoodsNet / us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis = wat_TaInstrumentSystemsMember
Waters service [Member]
Entity-Wide Revenue from External Customers [Line Items]
Service sales	142,981us-gaap_SalesRevenueServicesNet / us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis = wat_WatersServiceMember	132,042us-gaap_SalesRevenueServicesNet / us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis = wat_WatersServiceMember
TA service [Member]
Entity-Wide Revenue from External Customers [Line Items]
Service sales	$ 14,550us-gaap_SalesRevenueServicesNet / us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis = wat_TaServiceMember	$ 13,671us-gaap_SalesRevenueServicesNet / us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis = wat_TaServiceMember

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- Definition

Number of operating segments. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise: (a) that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same enterprise), (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (c) for which discrete financial information is available. An operating segment may engage in business activities for which it has yet to earn revenues, for example, start-up operations may be operating segments before earning revenues.

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Number of segments reported by the entity. A reportable segment is a component of an entity for which there is an accounting requirement to report separate financial information on that component in the entity's financial statements.

+ References

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- Definition

Aggregate revenue during the period from the sale of goods in the normal course of business, after deducting returns, allowances and discounts.

+ References

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

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 225

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 2

-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.1(a))

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26872669&loc=d3e20235-122688



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-Publisher SEC

-Name Regulation S-X (SX)

-Number 210

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Total revenue from sale of goods and services rendered during the reporting period, in the normal course of business, reduced by sales returns and allowances, and sales discounts.

+ References

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

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 225

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 2

-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.1)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26872669&loc=d3e20235-122688



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

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 225

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 2

-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.1(d))

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26872669&loc=d3e20235-122688



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