Swatch celebrate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with “How Majestic”, a colour-changing watch

Luke Benedictus

The British royal family has endured another calamitous year. Prince Andrew cemented his position as a global embarrassment after settling his sex abuse case out of court, Megan and Harry polarised the nation with their self-serving interview on Oprah, and it’s barely a year since Prince Phillip died. As an institution, the monarchy appears increasingly beleaguered and its future looks shaky at best. But at the centre of this tabloid maelstrom stands the Queen. Except she’s not just standing. She’s invariably smiling or waving in one of her acid-coloured outfits.  And whatever your potential misgivings about the royal family, it’s hard not to muster some respect if not genuine affection for the Queen.

For many people, the Queen is a reassuring fixture of permanence and stability. From Australia to Trinidad and Tobago, her portrait has graced the currencies of 33 different countries, meaning that millions have carried her image about with them from infancy to death. But the positive sentiment towards the Queen stems less from her ubiquity than from her conduct. Whatever the scandals engulfing the Palace from Harry’s Nazi outfit to Fergie’s toe-sucking fiasco, she remains somehow removed from the furore. She never complains and never explains. She continues to turn up to her royal appointments looking dignified and gracious, dutiful and serene. Despite a lifetime of intense scrutiny, the Queen has never screwed up.

To celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Swatch have released “How Majestic”, a horological tribute to one of the world’s most recognisable women. Featured on a clean white dial with gold-coloured hands, the quartz watch features a picture of a waving Queen in her statement hat and brooch, clutching her handbag while one of her beloved Corgis stands at her side. Around the dial’s perimeter, 70 gold-coloured dots denote the monarch’s 70-year reign.

In characteristic form, Swatch have added a fun-loving twist.  The solid matte white case houses a colour-changing calendar wheel that rotates the hue of the Queen’s outfit daily. Some days her attire will look more orange, more pink, more purple, or more blue.

At this stage you’ll probably start feeling inspired by her Majesty’s legendary fashion sense, in which case you’re in luck. Inside the packaging for the $150 AUD watch is a sparkly, silver-coloured crown.