The Black Watch Tartans - Decorators of the Green

White on Green: One group decorates the Green under check and sometimes one of the Blues as well. Usually a single colour replaces the black overcheck and this colour may be guarded with thin black either side of it. The Lamont (left) uses a white over check, whilst the Forbes uses a guarded white and the Campbell of Argyll also uses a guarded white but extends the pattern to an extra Green under check with a guarded yellow over check. The MacKenzie also has a guarded white but makes the first tramline into a guarded red.

One of the earliest variations on the Black Watch was the Gordon where a simple yellow was run through the green under check. The Cheape uses azure in the same way and the Farquharson yellow but with a red between the double tramlines. The Baillie uses a guarded yellow but changes the single tramline into a guarded red. The Campbell of Breadalbane edges the green with yellow.

		Red on Green: The MacKinlay uses a guarded red as does the Robertson of Kindeace, a predecessor of Hunting Robertson, but makes the single tramline a guarded white: this is because it is based upon the Atholl tartan, Murray of Atholl (left), where the blue has guarded red in addition to the green an unguarded red. (Note also the Stewart of Atholl where red under check has replaced blue in a compressed Black Watch motif, which then resembles Kerr, Lindsay, Sutherland, Urquhart and MacLachlan with Boyd and Hay further over checked embellishments).

The Fletcher virtually hides the family resemblance with red edging plus a broadened single tramline and the Arbuthnott adds a double yellow to the green with a broad central blue to compete with the tramline theme found within the blue.