For the first time in the bespoke luxury automaker’s storied past, Rolls-Royce adds the Spirit of Ecstasy inside, taking flight in a Clock Cabinet in Cullinan Series II and Ghost Series II models. 

Change comes gradually to Rolls-Royce. Usually, it arrives with the kind of pomp befitting the bespoke British automaker. This circumstance, however, happened rather quietly. The Spirit of Ecstasy, Rolls-Royce’s hood  sculpture of a woman leaning forward with her arms outstretched behind her, flew from exterior to interior. It’s purpose: to further accentuate the Rolls-Royce dashboard clock.  

“On the exterior at the front of the car, we talk about the trinity: the pantheon grille, the badge of honor, the Spirit of Ecstasy,” Matthias Junghanns, Head of Interior Design at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said. “These strong icons are all coming together. The idea was to strengthen this connection with the clients also on the interior.”

The new Clock Cabinet debuted in the Cullinan Series II SUV in May 2024, followed by the Ghost Series II in October 2024. It’s expected that the vitrine holding both icons will play out in subsequent models as a way to harmonize the strong iconography, inside and out. 

Inside, the Spirit sits below the analog clock in a glass cabinet just to the right, or the passenger side, of the infotainment screen. The screen can be closed to create a seamless dash typically paneled in gorgeous natural wood veneers, as it’s done for at least a century. The Rolls-Royce clock also predates the last century as a vital instrument of circumnavigation alongside the speedometer and odometer. Now, the Spirit gains a rightful place amid these classic design elements. Made of stainless steel and standing less than two inches high, the winged goddess seems poised to take flight, carrying the weight of time above her back. 

It’s smaller than the mechanical hood ornament that retracts into the bonnet once the driver gets going, in case they need a reminder of who made their half-million-dollar car. It’s much more than just the placement of the icon and a reminder that luxuriousness need not be conferred by screens. It’s all about the lighting and the presentation. 

The welcome lighting spreads through the instrument cluster and across the central screen to the passenger side in an orchestration of light that then centers on the glass cabinet. It illuminates from the bottom, like a theatrical performance, then refracts off the angles in the cabinet before settling into a soft glow. 

It’s intended to stand out in space in every dimension, from the driver’s and passenger’s view, as well as from the rear seat. 

“In that precious cabinet, we wanted to create a bit of a mystic glow, so the light starts to play with the surfaces and the materials, the subtle plays of light and shadow, and yet with a very precise and crisp seam of the contours of the Spirit of Ecstasy,” Junghanns said.

Junghanns didn’t dare approach the classic Italian painter. Yet it might have taken Rolls-Royce just as long to execute one of Caravaggio’s chiaroscuros. It took four years to develop, between craftspeople in both the analog and digital spheres out of Goodwood, home of Rolls-Royce. 

This blend of the classic and the modern highlights other Rolls-Royce design initiatives since BMW rescued the bespoke British brand. The relaunch recreated its longest-running model with the Phantom Series VII saloon that ran from 2003 to 2016. This year, the rarest Rolls in terms of volume celebrates its 100th anniversary. 

“Rolls-Royce always had something to do with being unexpected, romantic, and being simple and elegant,” Junghanns said. “The pure fact that you had these rotating central displays that could give you a very uninterrupted and elegant fascia us, showing the watch at the center, but then at the fingertip some technology was revealed. Now, still with these rotating mechanisms, this car has something that is just timeless. It’s classic.” 

It appears to be working. 2024 marked a record year for Rolls-Royce, but not as measured in volume, which can dull the sheen of exclusivity. Bespoke options on individual models increased by 10%, adding up to the highest level in the company’s history.  

The Spirit taking flight inside is just another way to remind owners of this rarefied air.

“It’s also a way for us to focus on what’s really important for us and our clients,” Junghanns summed. “It’s not about pixels and technology, it’s about the stage we’re creating, the interior impression, the craftsmanship of the materials.”