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Revenue Recognition - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Sep. 26, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Other Long-Term Liabilities [Member]
Revenue Recognition [Line Items]
Deferred revenue and customer advances	$ 39	$ 38

X

- Definition

Amount of obligation to transfer good or service to customer for which consideration has been received or is receivable, classified as noncurrent.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121556615&loc=SL49130532-203044

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121556615&loc=SL49130531-203044

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121604090&loc=SL49130549-203045

+ Details

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Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Revenue recognition.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

X

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
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Balance Type:
Period Type: