ThomasM
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Royal Oak jumbo vs Royal Oak Jumbo

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Follow up question, Thomas

Date: Mar 04, 2010,07:17 AM -  (view entire thread)

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Hi, respo,

The Jumbo (with capital J) never had anything to do with the A series (or even B series, etc) - it was reference based, not series based (though the two are somewhat correlated to each other)

Keep in mind the context - back in 1972, the typical men's wristwatch size was 33mm-36mm and the "tool watches" that were 39mm and 40-42mm were generally very thick and mid grade, not "fine" and high end - Zenith; Omega; Favre-Leuba; etc

There really was no "concept" of "jumbo" and the term really came into casual unofficial usage decades later to refer to the original, now prescient 39-40mm size of the original Royal Oak and the Nautilus.  Both went on to evolve into smaller versions (PP 3800 and the 36mm RO, both which became the "standard" size for their respect model ranges and the original 39-40mm sizes disappearing from the line until they made a comeback years later.)

Only then did the term "jumbo" have any meaning - they were "jumbo" because they were larger than the later (for awhile) smaller versions.

As the appellation became popular with collectors, AP rereleased the cal. 2121 based model, under a new reference number, and adopted the term Jumbo with a capital J.

Which iteration of the Royal Oak with cal. 2121 did the term start with, "officially?" There is no "official" position on this!

But definitely after the ref. 5402 ended, and before the 15-202 started.

Cheers,

TM

 (edited to correct typo on ref #)