Design Overview
Case
The Hellion-BAKU was originally designed as a blend of the A-11 and the UDT’s canteen watch. Using the case architecture introduced by Rolex in 1926, that has become the defacto standard for water resistant watches, paired with modern materials and drilled lugs BAKU is water resistant to 100 meters; suitable for the free diving and “no-decomp” dives the UDTs performed at the time. The oversized “cap” crown is a nod to the “canteen” watches issued to the UDT and makes the crown easier to use with wet and cold hands. At 39 mm in diameter the case is larger than the reference design while still within period norms making it equally at home in 1944 or 2025.
Dial
We designed the dial around the clandestine and nocturnal nature of the Special Reconnaissance Mission. In reference to the canteen watches of the period the MkII logo and the text on the dial are printed in gloss black over a matte black base. “Project Recover” is featured in italics above the depth rating, historically a placement of distinction on co-branded watches. The choice of italics is meant to evoke ProjectRecover.org’s drive and devotion. Luminous paint was a defining detail of the issued watches. With this in mind, we increased the diameter of the dial’s luminous dots and the font size of the numerals to maximize the amount of luminous paint the dial could hold. The irony of course is that almost all of the UDT missions occurred in broad daylight with the notable handful of exceptions such as Tinian and the Special Reconnaissance Mission to the Palau and Yap islands.
Hands
The design of the hands pay tribute to the US submarine service, the UDT, and Project Recover’s continuing mission to find Black, MacMahon, and Roeder. The gray, black and white color scheme is a variation on the hand design of the UDT watches meant to pay homage to the USS Burrfish’s WW2 era camouflage scheme. US subs spent most of their time on the surface, only diving to avoid detection or initiate an attack. For that reason subs of the era had their sides painted gray to blend in better with the sky when viewed from the surface, everything seen from above painted black to blend in better with the color of deep water, and the low spots on the boat’s surfaces were selectively painted white to flatten their appearance. The shape of the hour and minute hands were based on the UDT watches of the era but have been widened to increase their legibility and night time performance. Per many of the WW2 canteen watches the tip of the sweep is lumed. The sweep seconds hand’s asymmetrical triangle counterweight references Project Recover’s logo which symbolizes the vertical stabilizer of the aircraft at the heart of their origin story and folded flag presented to the families of the fallen; representative of recovery and repatriation.
Case back
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