A nine-minute second-half brace sealed all three points for Manchester City as they broke a club-record to continue their impressive start to the 2015/16 campaign.
After a few half-chances for either side in the early going, neither was able to capitalize on the momentum when it came, despite City dominating possession from the off-set.
A poor showing for Navas
Jesús Navas' end-product was again wasteful as the pacey Spaniard struggled to thread passes into his team-mates, and his delivery from the flank was also inaccurate on a poor 45 minute spell for the former Sevilla winger, before he was replaced after the half-time interval.
On the day that Kevin de Bruyne's proposed move to Eastlands edged closer to being finalised, Navas reiterated the fans' belief that he simply is not good enough to start week-in, week-out for the sky Blues, and Manuel Pellegrini made a smart alteration after the break to substitute him - for a man eager to assert his own credentials, in Samir Nasri.
Fernandinho undoubtedly Man of the Match with stellar display
Often under-rated given his position in the team, sitting in a holding midfield role and allowing Yaya Touré the space to roam forward on the counter, the 30-year-old Brazilian was instrumental as he made important interceptions and cleanly-executed tackles to dispossess the visitors' of possession whenever they looked threatening on the attack.
Despite being one of the squad's older first-team starters, he was mature both on-and-off the ball, and a tenacious display was needed to break up play with the likes of Valon Behrami and Odion Ighalo looking to get themselves on the ball to create something of note.
Gomes called into action to deny City's attacking threat
Heurelho Gomes was forced into making a double save as the Hornets struggled at times to clear their lines; first denying Bacary Sagna's low effort from a set-piece, before making an excellent diving stop to deny Raheem Sterling after the 20-year-old danced past the Watford backline and was closing in on his first competitive strike for the Citizens since his £49m move from Liverpool earlier in the summer.
Sterling was a constant thorn in Watford's defence as they struggled to stay close to him, with Allan Nyom picking up a booking for a cynical challenge on the flank before the interval. Sergio Agüero was not yet firing on all cylinders as his chances goalwards were squandered - either narrowly wide of the mark or dealt with by the visitors.
Sterling nets first competitive goal for Citizens
But shortly after the second 45 began, City opened the scoring and it was a memorable goal too. A perfectly-weighted delivery fired into the box by Sagna found the run of Sterling at the near post, and the talented youngster was able to slot home from close-range, for his first competitive goal amongst his new team-mates.
The Ethiad erupted, and rightly so too, as one of their summer signings continued to impress with his name on the scoresheet too. Watford looked ruffled defensively and were taken aback by Sterling's goal, although it was coming, as it could have easily been more.
Touré galloped forward at speed, Nasri was always looking to get himself on the ball to create an opportunity or flick the ball into the box, and Silva was pulling the strings from midfield as per usual. Funnily enough, the silky Spaniard got his 50th league assist not long afterwards, as Fernandinho thumped one home after a free-kick was poorly dealt with by Quique Sánchez Flores' side.
City were cruising and deservedly so, Watford were unable to create much and found themselves sitting deep trying to avoid conceding again. Fabian Delph was introduced with fifteen minutes to play on his return from a hamstring injury sustained in pre-season, whilst talented 18-year-old forward Kelechi Iheaneacho was given a short cameo appearance on his Premier League debut too.
All in all, four wins out of four for Pellegrini's men. They could have had four or five, but Agüero failed to take any of his chances whilst Touré and Silva saw their respective efforts curl over the crossbar. If there's one side that'll be wishing there is no international break, it'd have to be City.
They have the momentum, top of the league and still have a few more faces to integrate in the first-team ranks. Their rivals will be very aware of this.