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Vintage Jumbos

JwRosenthal
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I've seen the "jumbo" watches pop up periodically, there are two currently in the FS section here. The word "jumbo" is of course relative, but we are talking about "dress style" sport watches from the 30's-50's that are 37-40mm. During a time when their similar counterparts were 31-34mm, these things are indeed huge!
What was the target audience for these massively scaled and apparently rare watches?
 
Tony C.
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JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
What was the target audience for these massively scaled and apparently rare watches?

Men who would occasionally ask their wives or girlfriends, "Honey, does my wrist look fat?". 😁
 
X350 XJR
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There have always been size queens! 😁
 
JwRosenthal
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Lots of opportunity for size jokes, of course. But I'm genuinely curious. The B-Uhr watches, we know were specifically large to read in a cockpit (which I think was a stroke of duh-genius as opposed to the 30mm US flight watches that are hard enough to read in the car on a sunny day).
I've read that sweep second hands were targeted as "doctors" watches originally- the validity of that of course I don't know.
I just find it intersting that these scaled up versions of watches were a thing back then and I assume they had to have a target market.
 
JwRosenthal
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Same question basically- and some logical explanations- thanks for sharing that. It was my same curiosity about how out of place the size was with the convention of the time, so I pragmatically think there must have been a "purpose", but perhaps it was just stylistic lisence. The larger scale obviously not enough of a hit to really take off until years later.
 
kaapstadflaneur
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I would speculate (without any hard evidence or documentation) that the jumbo-sized Omegas from the late-1940s and early-1950s were designed to compete with IWC's Portuguese line of larger wristwatches (though many of the IWC Portuguese models were even bigger than the jumbo Omegas). I've always thought that the jumbo Omegas from that brief period have been under-valued for their quality vis-a-vis comparable Rolex, IWC, models from the same time.
 
Dan S
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kaapstadflaneur kaapstadflaneur
I would speculate (without any hard evidence or documentation) that the jumbo-sized Omegas from the late-1940s and early-1950s were designed to compete with IWC's Portuguese line of larger wristwatches (though many of the IWC Portuguese models were even bigger than the jumbo Omegas). I've always thought that the jumbo Omegas from that brief period have been under-valued for their quality vis-a-vis comparable Rolex, IWC, models from the same time.

I suppose that they could have been an inspiration, but IIRC, IWC made fewer than 1,000 of those large Portuguisers (ref 325), which is why they are so rare and valuable. So I'm not sure anyone felt the need to compete with them.
 
krogerfoot
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A lot of the Omega jumbos are described as having been made for the Asian market, and they do seem fairly prevalent here. It's a mystery to me and I'd like to get my hands on one.
 
Rman
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krogerfoot krogerfoot
A lot of the Omega jumbos are described as having been made for the Asian market, and they do seem fairly prevalent here. It's a mystery to me and I'd like to get my hands on one.
Interesting, I've never heard heard of this before, described by whom?

My understanding is that most of these went to the Eastern European market. Ive hunted down a few of these watches, and they are fun because they're challenging to find in good condition and have big beautiful and often interesting dials.

As to why they were made—- I’ve heard that there were micro-trends in certain markets for bigger watches. Another theory was that large men with fat wrists lobbied for a watch scaled to their proportions and it was more of a special order. This makes a lot of sense to me.

Omega has actually produced a lot of 36mm models over the years which were large for the time as well.

Here a Disco Volante at 39mm from the 30’s, Italian market. The brand was exploring new styles and was willing to take more risks than they seem to be willing to now.

71B15026-A760-4EDF-BB56-AF7A34E40CB2.jpeg
Edited:
 
Shabbaz
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Rman Rman
Interesting, I've never heard heard of this before, described by whom
71B15026-A760-4EDF-BB56-AF7A34E40CB2.jpeg
Certain 37mm jumbo's were produced indeed for the asian market. Out of my head the following modelnumbers:
168.001
14395
14396
14777
2976
 
krogerfoot
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Shabbaz Shabbaz
Certain 37mm jumbo's were produced indeed for the asian market. Out of my head the following modelnumbers:
168.001
14395
14396
14777
2976
This is my understanding as well. Maybe I came across it on Desmond's Constellation site but someone's going to have to Google it for me.
 
Shabbaz
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krogerfoot krogerfoot
This is my understanding as well. Maybe I came across it on Desmond's Constellation site but someone's going to have to Google it for me.
Yes. Desmond did mention. But we also saw this on OF on a lot of jumbo extracts of the omega archive. That's the strength of combining knowledge.
 
Rman
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Shabbaz Shabbaz
Yes. Desmond did mention. But we also saw this on OF on a lot of jumbo extracts of the omega archive. That's the strength of combining knowledge.
Youre talking mostly of Constellations thats really a different topic.

The 2976 fits in closer to what i believe the OP was addressing. But i dont want to assume anything. The 2976 was produced closer to 1960 and looks it.
Edited:
 
Vitezi
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This 44mm CK2309 occasionally makes an appearance on the forum:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/ck-2039-vs-105003.83348/
637351-f56ff7329365f7d08717ce99142365a7.jpg
 
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