In the early 1980s Old Holland set itself at developing a classic watercolor paint. The priority was to develop a paint which was many times more concentrated than the existing watercolor paints, without sacrificing transparency. They decided to develop a classic quality of watercolor paint because artists needed a type of paint with much greater color strength and intensity.

Old Holland spent ten years assembling a range of 168 light-fast watercolor paints with the maximum degree of pigmentation that could be achieved. For good transparency a binder was formulated based on distilled water in which, among other ingredients, bleached gum types, pure glycerine and various mixtures of natural sugar syrups, honey, rabbit skin glue and seaweed extract are dissolved. The high pigmentation maximizes the intensity and brilliance of the colors.