Love the kilt, is that "Black Watch"

[JonathanB]

No doubt about it, the kilt is a conversation starter, and will bring your inner extrovert out.

Certainly my experience.

[Glen]

I am not an expert, and perhaps, they will assist and educate us further.

As I understand, Black Watch is not the tartan, but it is the government tartan, and Black Watch is a darker colour tones, with the Argyll lighter tones. Pleating is also important for the regimental kilts, and as such either tartan could be pleated in civilian style as well.

I wear both, and yes, conversation starters...

[MacLowlife]

I recently saw Lindsay referred to as "red watch".

[OC Richard]

As I understand, Black Watch is not the tartan, but it is the government tartan, and Black Watch is a darker colour tones, with the Argyll lighter tones.

Yes I believe it was called "government tartan" in the 18th century and was worn by a large number of regiments, sometimes with additional lines. The Black Watch themselves often added a red line.

Barnes lists 20 Highland regiments raised and disbanded between 1745 and 1800.

I think the clear colour distinction between the tartan of The Black Watch and of The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders is relatively recent.

A book I have from the 1960s gives the same tartan for the ORs of the two regiments, however the tartan of senior NCOs and Officers of the Argylls has the green a much ligher shade, and was called "Sutherland" within the regiment. It is this tartan which has been adopted for all ranks of the RRS.

Black Watch.



Sutherland, as worn by two senior NCOs of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.



Sutherland, as worn by members of The Royal Regiment of Scotland.

[WillowEstate]

I'm a bit jaded, I think, because I used to work in a Highland Outfitter and one of my jobs was to sort the tartan ties on the huge rack they had. It got easy to identify any of the 200-odd tartans they kept in stock. That was 30 years ago and oftentimes I find myself not remembering the name of a tartan that's completely familiar to me, that I've hung on that old rack hundreds of times.

I think this is quite normal. Having worked in IT for 40 years, I can offer an explanation. As we mature, we store more and more in our memory banks but our central processing unit (aka brain) doesn't speed up proportionately. So, it takes us longer to search through our ever increasing memory store. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

[Farmer Jones]

I think this is quite normal. Having worked in IT for 40 years, I can offer an explanation. As we mature, we store more and more in our memory banks but our central processing unit (aka brain) doesn't speed up proportionately. So, it takes us longer to search through our ever increasing memory store. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I have also worked in IT for 40 years and prefer your argument to the one given by my physician.

[OC Richard]

On this site you can see Royal Stewart referred to as "Redwatch"

http://www.josbank.com/menswear/shop...1_10050_101648

IT eh? Like this?

[Farmer Jones]

IT eh? Like this?
<snip> for brevity

Ha Ha. My daughter made me watch that show once. No not a bit like that. I am on the rather more serious side, helping hospitals, schools and government agencies run.

[frank_a]

I do have a Black Watch kilt I only wear rarely, but I do wear my Glenmoral a lot, and often get compliments on my hat! Frank

[WillowEstate]

Ha Ha. My daughter made me watch that show once. No not a bit like that. I am on the rather more serious side, helping hospitals, schools and government agencies run.

No, never seen the show but I get the spirit of it from his "RTFM" tee-shirt! I was in mainfames, with a major user and then a manufacturer in Sunnyvale, Ca., though I worked in the UK.