Audemars Piguet

The cut diamond shape of the real 'j u m b o' rests in the sunlight

Unpopular and somewhat superceded in the minds of a new generation of buyers, I understand that something had to be done to this icon.  In the mid-naughties, customers wanted a bulked up look and feel, and more stage presence duly preferring the new 15300 which had overtaken sales with the mass produced divided labour line 3120.  Feeling twice the weight, with a bulky twin butterfly clasp, this design was pumped even further and carried to the  'lost in case' conclusion of the 15400.  These AP 'Submariners', stole the show with a new generation of buyers uninterested and overlooking the meaning and heritage of the 2121, let alone the the mythical mix of masculinity and daintiness present in the skin hugging thin, jewellery inspired, cut gem borne of Genta's one night of  sweaty insanity in 1971.

So it took Octavio Garcia's oh so subtle and successful attention to detail to recover the manufactured case form and dial detail and date disk of the jumbo to become the Ultra Thin yet passed off the oddly misplaced thick and bulky twin butterfly clasp.  It went all collectors-only-super-success, 'the piece no one can get, but everyone has', doubling in price and becoming another victim of the distasteful symbiosis of brands and resellers consigning the last of the old freely available15202s, with three colours of dial and truly thin bracelet and clasp (oh, and a four figure price tag) to history in the backend of 2011.  So if you want to keep the original aesthetic of thinness with some dial colour options in a late model, then the15202st.OO.0944.xx is your girl.  Or you have to find a NOS APPA clasp to fit and like the dial colour of your UT.

Velociphile