Winsor & Newton Watercolors | Made in England Vs. Made in France

3/2/2025

I've just concluded my experiment and I have some interesting results.
I made 6 swatches for each manufacturing country. I used completely clean water and a clean brush for each swatch. And I tried to use the same portion of paint for each. I also photographed the swatches in natural light.
With this experiment, I am purely looking at color, but I did notice some differences in the handling of the paints. The "made in England" colors seemed to have more pigment and to respond better to my brush. But keep in mind that I haven't painted an actual painting or mixed colors with these yet so I can't give my full opinion.

Here is my opinion and the swatch photos are below:

Made in England: the cerulean blue seems more greenish and the cobalt blue seems more chromatic. The Prussian blue was more intense and seems like it has a higher pigment load--however, I did a separate swatch for the Prussian blue and they seemed very similar.

Made in France: The cobalt seems a little less intense and a little more gray. I think that I prefer this cobalt violet, but that's a strange color and doesn't respond well as a watercolor.
*viridian and cadmium orange seem the same for both manufacturers.

Color is very subjective and paint handling is personal also, but I think there is a slight difference between the two manufacturers. I think that I prefer the made in "made in England" colors and I also prefer the "made in England" tubes compared to the made in France tubes. I only tested 6 colors, but they are pretty similar--it's not like one is way better than the other. And comparing paint colors on a computer screen isn't great either since cameras and screens depict colors different than pigments.
This was a fun little project and I encourage everyone out there to test out your materials, but don't get too hung up on subtle differences. It's best to use high quality materials and Winsor & Newton is still a high quality brand!