The Owls resumed their Championship campaign against Watford but went down 3-0 at Hillsborough.
First half goals from Odion Ighalo and Alman Abdi followed by another from Matej Vydra in the second half settled matters as the Hornets took the spoils and the points.
Wednesday did rally but came up against a determined visiting backline that held firm to ensure the win.
Coming out of the second international break, the Owls were out to break their way into top six contention and Stuart Gray mixed his deck.
Hallam Hope and Gary Madine were handed maiden starts while Sam Hutchinson returned to the starting line-up, only for the unlucky former Chelsea man to last just seven minutes before being forced back out of the action.
And things got worse for Wednesday once the game found its flow as Watford struck on 21 minutes.
Vydra broke the offside trap, albeit in the most tight of circumstances, and advanced to play in Ighalo, who slotted into an empty net.
The Owls went on to see far more of the ball in the first half and Madine went close with a clever chip that Heuralho Gomes was grateful to grasp.
But again, fate intervened and moments after Keiren Westwood received treatment for a knock on the knee, Watford seized the advantage and doubled their lead.
Little seemed on for Abdi just outside the angle of the penalty area but the midfielder tried his luck and the ball slipped agonisingly beneath Westwood and in.
It gave the Owls a mountain to climb and Stuart Gray made a change for the second 45, with Hope making way for Royston Drenthe.
And the hosts certainly looked brighter, with Jacques Maghoma bringing the best out of Gomes before Madine went close again from the resulting corner.
The danger, though, was Watford breaking as evidenced on 54 minutes when Ighalo might have done better seven yards out from a Vydra feed.
And the visitors could have been out of sight three minutes later as Fernando Forestieri had time and space in the box but his low shot struck the outside of the post.
The Owls hit back with Drenthe forcing Gomes into another fine save but the game was all but over on 69 minutes when substitute Juan Carlos Paredes found Vydra, whose clipped finish was both calm and emphatic to make it 3-0.
The remainder of the contest was academic and although Drenthe looked a real live wire, the Hornets were never going to surrender their lead and travelled back to Hertfordshire triumphant.
Owls: Westwood, Palmer, Loovens, Lees, Mattock, Hope (Drenthe 46), Hutchinson (Semedo 7), Lee (Nuhiu 68), Maghoma, Madine, May
Watford: Gomes, Munari, Ekstrand, Tozser, Forestieri (Paredes 68), Doyley, Pudil, Vydra, Abdi (Dyer 78), Ighalo (Deeney 81), Bassong