THE WATCHES OF GOTHIC SERPENT AND BLACK HAWK DOWN

Today marks the 31st anniversary of one of the most impactful events in recent military history: the Battle of Mogadishu. Though a sad, harrowing tale fraught with poor planning, it stands out as a great moment of valor, heroism, and manhood. What started as a "simple" mission to capture rebel leaders turned into a bloody 15-hour battle, taking the lives of 18 and wounding 84 U.S. servicemen. Eight years later, the classic film *Black Hawk Down*, directed by Ridley Scott, immortalized the incident in what is considered one of the best war movies of all time. Today, we’re going to look at the timepieces that were worn on that fateful day.

THE BATTLE:

Unfortunately, there are relatively few verified photos of the actual event, and it's hard to tell if even pictures surrounding the event are accurate.

I was, however, able to source a photo taken of Gregg Ackley and a group of fellow Delta operators just prior to the battle. Amidst the glory of M4 carry handle-'90s Unit Operator goodness, the hallowed bumpy silhouette of a G-Shock graces the center frame. Given the slightly offset case, I suspect this is a DW-6300-1A "Frogman," though it’s impossible to say for sure. One thing that makes me a little skeptical is that the 6300 was released in August ’93, just in time to end up in this photo—but it would have to be brand spanking new.

There are a few other accounts of G-Shocks being worn on the day, which is no surprise. Last year, W.O.E. posted a photo featuring a personal Hamilton (probably a Khaki Field) of Delta Operator Jim Smith, who also stated that he sported the trusty G-Shock that day as well.

THE MOVIE:

There are a variety of different pieces that show up in the film. I had the pleasure of a brief conversation on Facebook Messenger with the film’s Art Director, Marco Trentini, who stated that working on *Black Hawk Down* was one of the best experiences of his life and shared some set photos. Unfortunately, he was unable to remember which exact watch props ended up in the film. An interesting thing to note is that the movie was produced by Ridley Scott’s British film company and shot on location in Morocco, so most of the crew were either British or Moroccan. I tried to reach out to the film's Props Master, who would have been in charge of the watches for the shoot, but alas, he was unresponsive.

All this to say, the two main watches I was able to identify are a possible Marathon H3 Military (Ref #: MIL-W-46374E) and, of course, our beloved G-Shock DW-6900.

What I think is the Marathon shows up (see pictures) on the wrist of Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann, played by Josh Hartnett. Unfortunately, the images I was able to get a hold of aren’t super high-resolution, so much of this is conjecture. But to me, the black plastic case, straight minimalist hands, and slightly domed acrylic crystal might just give it away despite the pixelation. As noted before, with British filmmakers around, there's also the possibility that we have an MWC/CWC G10 variant before us, but I lean toward the Marathon.

Marathon has a legendary legacy of duty-driven pieces for the U.S. military since the '60s-'70s and was partially responsible for the move to quartz for duty watches in the '80s. The H3 Military was issued in the early '90s, which is why I think it’s the one we see in the film. To this day, Marathon upholds the no-nonsense, no-frills, duty-grade legacy that has made a name for them across the battlefields of the world.

The G-Shock is no surprise to see, and as stated above, there were definitely some G-Shocks there on the day. In the screengrab I found, you can clearly see the iconic DW6900 shape on the wrist of the operator making the arrest of the Somalian warlord in the opening sequence of the film. But here's a bit of a filmmaking goof: although it's legendary among the SpecOps community of the era, the 6900 wasn’t released until 1996! So it couldn’t have shown up for the 1993 battle. This ends up being a common theme in even the best historical films. Though the intention is often to represent an event as accurately as possible, films are often forced to abide by the spirit of the law rather than the letter. In this case, I’ll allow it.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

There are SO many watches I just couldn’t pixel-peep my way into identifying for this one. I’ve thrown in a few pictures of the ones I’d love to figure out. I would love to see some of you take a crack at it. There's a lot of data I wasn’t able to cover for the whole event in general; if any of y'all have better info, please drop it in the comments below!

Even though it’s fun to nerd out on the history and gear of such a fascinating event, we mustn't forget that 19 brave Americans were killed surrounding the event.

-Will

Here are their names—take a moment to read and remember:

- Staff Sergeant Daniel Busch – Delta Force sniper

- Private First Class James Cavaco – 10th Mountain Division

- Master Sergeant Gary Gordon – Delta Force sniper (awarded Medal of Honor posthumously)

- Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart – Delta Force sniper (awarded Medal of Honor posthumously)

- Sergeant First Class Earl Fillmore – Delta Force

- Chief Warrant Officer 3 Clifton Wolcott – Black Hawk pilot

- Chief Warrant Officer 4 Raymond Frank – Black Hawk pilot

- Staff Sergeant William Cleveland – Black Hawk crew chief

- Sergeant First Class Thomas Field – Black Hawk crew chief

- Sergeant Dominick Pilla – 75th Ranger Regiment