page_title: Watson Realty Corp.
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Watson Realty Corp. / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Watson Realty Corp.'s Ed Forman, president and Mr. Watson, founder and chairman of the board
context_page_description: Watson Realty Corp. is an independent real estate company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, with 51 offices and 1,400 employees in Northeast Florida, Central Florida, and Southeast Georgia.
  Watson Realty Corp. is a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, a global community of 565 international real estate companies across the world. Watson Realty Corp. also maintains an affiliation with Luxury Portfolio International, the luxury branch of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World.
context_section_description: Watson Realty Corp. was formed in 1965 by William A. Watson, Jr. The company's first office was located in Jacksonville, as a single-office real estate company in a shared storefront with William A. Watson and one part-time sales agent.
  William A. Watson Jr., was born in Jacksonville, the son and grandson of railroad conductors for what today is CSX Corp. The professor, Roger G. Giles, would become one of Watson's early mentors.
  After graduation in 1959, Watson joined Gifford Grange Realty in 1960. When Grange left the business to enter politics, Watson opened his own brokerage on the Southside. He offered property management and fire and casualty insurance in addition to real estate services. Watson opened his first branch office in 1970.It would later be renamed a final time to Watson Realty Corp. in 1976. 
  By 1979, Watson opened branches in Gainesville, Orlando, Longwood, Deland, and Daytona. In 1985, Watson opened its first office outside of Florida in St. Marys, Georgia.
  Watson established its family of service companies in 1994 with the opening of Watson Mortgage Corp. and, in 2002, Watson Title Services of North Florida, Inc.
  In 2017, Watson merged with All Florida Realty, offering services to Melbourne, Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach, and Port Charlotte.
caption: Watson Realty Corp.'s Ed Forman, president and Mr. Watson, founder and chairman of the board.
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