On closer inspection, it appears that the pitch gear notches are there after all, but they do not seem as prominent as on some other VDM props, the one I was thinking of at the time being that on the Bf110, purely due to the location of the find, thinking more of the 'central' area of the North Sea, further north than the Dutch coast.
Having been found in Dutch waters, that does leave it open to the prop being from other types, including the Bf110 and Bf109, although the dimensions, and the style of the hub, do look more like that on the He-111.
The pitch control hub would be found on any prop with a variable pitch, either manually operated, via a pitch control lever, or a 'constant speed' prop, operated via a Constant Speed Unit (CSU) controlled automatically by the engine revs. Most combat aircraft of the period had variable pitch props, the He-111 included, the latter being manually operated as far as I know.