XML 57 R46.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.8.0.1

Goodwill and Other Intangibles - Schedule of Intangible Assets (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Finite Lived and Indefinite Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	$ 727,254	$ 701,100
Accumulated Amortization	$ 495,521	$ 472,705
Weighted-Average Amortization Period	7 years	7 years
Trademarks and In Process Research and Development [Member]
Finite Lived and Indefinite Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	$ 14,108	$ 13,923
Software Development [Member]
Finite Lived and Indefinite Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	460,250	438,652
Accumulated Amortization	$ 302,997	$ 285,461
Weighted-Average Amortization Period	5 years	5 years
Purchased Intangibles [Member]
Finite Lived and Indefinite Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	$ 171,916	$ 169,870
Accumulated Amortization	$ 141,722	$ 138,750
Weighted-Average Amortization Period	11 years	11 years
Licensing Agreements [Member]
Finite Lived and Indefinite Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	$ 6,044	$ 5,840
Accumulated Amortization	$ 4,917	$ 4,628
Weighted-Average Amortization Period	6 years	6 years
Patents and Other Intangibles [Member]
Finite Lived and Indefinite Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	$ 74,936	$ 72,815
Accumulated Amortization	$ 45,885	$ 43,866
Weighted-Average Amortization Period	8 years	8 years

X

- Definition

Useful life of finite-lived intangible assets, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetUsefulLife
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Accumulated amount of amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsAccumulatedAmortization
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Amount before accumulated amortization of intangible assets, excluding goodwill.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IntangibleAssetsGrossExcludingGoodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	wat_FiniteLivedAndIndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	wat_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=wat_TrademarksAndInProcessResearchAndDevelopmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_SoftwareDevelopmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=wat_PurchasedIntangiblesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_LicensingAgreementsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=wat_PatentsAndOtherIntangiblesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: