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Bhutan: Specifications discussions

2:3 by Sammy Kanadi
Flag adopted 1969, coat of arms adopted 1980.

Overall discussion
Colors

Overall discussion

Bhutan is a difficult case, but not because of its colors, but because of its design. The 2008 constitution contains the description and symbolism of the flag. Unfortunately, there is no image of the flag, only the emblem can be seen on the front page. Constitution of Bhutan 2008: (https://www.dlgdm.gov.bt/storage/upload-documents/2021/9/20/Constitution-of-bhutan-2008.pdf) I found a booklet that describes the history of the Bhutan flag, the first page shows the flag in color, it was published in 2002. The Origin and Description of The National Flag and National Anthem of The Kingdom of Bhutan https://web.archive.org/web/20081203032136/http://www.bhutanstudies.org.bt/admin/pubFiles/NationalFlag.pdf But Bhutan celebrated commemorating of 100 years of monarchy and coronation of 5th king (who is the current king actually) in 2008. This year something changed about the flag because the shape of the dragon has changed. All pictures taken in 2008 or later show this new design. National Symbols page from 2008: (https://web.archive.org/web/20110706162643/http://www.bhutan2008.bt/en/node/256) shows a flag with more elaborated design, shape of dragon is more wavy, and there are kabney (scarf) or flames around its body. FOTW-ws shows this flag here: (https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/bt_var.html#var) More sources: The Kingdom of Bhutan site and this source and this stock photo But you can find more pictures in Internet. This is the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony, you can see Bhutanese athletes between 1:20:24 and 1:20:32: Bhutanese athletes can be clearly seen marching under the new flag at the opening ceremony. Of course, the Rio 2016 Flags and Anthems Manual shows this new flag. The situation is similar at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2021. You can see them between 2:17:17 and 2:17:38. The Tokyo 2020 Flags and Anthems Manual shows this new flag. And finally, there is 19th Asian Games 2022 records; you can see the flag between 0:10 and 0:13. Unfortunately, we won't see Bhutanese flag during opening ceremony of next Olympic Games, because no Bhutanese athlete have qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics to be held in Paris. I haven't found any document of adaptation of new flag, but it seems pretty clear that Bhutan has been using a new flag since 2008!
Zoltan Horvath, 22 April 2024

Colors

The Flag Manual - Beijing 2008 gives PMS178 (red), PMS 109 (yellow), and Black

The Album des Pavillons 2000 [pay00] (Corr. No.6.) gives approximate colors in Pantone and CMYK systems: Yellow: Pantone 143c, CMYK 0-30-85-0 Orange: Pantone 179c, CMYK 0-80-90-0

Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 [loc12] gives PMS 116 (yellow), PMS 165 (orange) and PMS Black.

The Album des Pavillons 2023 already specifies the colors of the flags in three color systems. Red: Pantone 179c, CMYK 5-87-82-0, RGB 224-60-49 Yellow: Pantone 143c, CMYK 5-32-86-0, RGB 241-180-52

Vexilla Mundi (https://www.vexilla-mundi.com/bhutan_flag.html) gives colors in Pantone system: PMS 116C (yellow), PMS 165C (orange), PMS White, and PMS Black.

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Bhutan) gives the following color values: Yellow: RAL 9000, CMYK 0-15-94-0, Pantone 116, Hex: #FFCC33, RGB: 255-213-32 Orange: RAL 3000, CMYK 0-60-100-0, Pantone 165, Hex: #FF4E12, RGB 255-78-18 and White: RAL 1000, CMYK 0-0-0-0, Pantone White, Hex: #FFF FFF, RGB: 255-255-255
Zoltan Horvath, 22 April 2024