Why does the Submariner have a wider case than the GMT?

[mangoseed]

This surely wouldn't make any difference to water resistance, as by far the biggest areas for water intrusion are the holes in the case such as the crown, caseback or around the bezel, not areas of thick solid metal. And besides, the older, slimmer Submariner has the same water resistance of the current model.

[steelman68]

Water proof ness has no relation to how deep the watch can go below the surface. As the pressure on the case increases the metal will deform.
From the posts I've read I've found out the main difference is the case back thickness on the sub being a little thicker to withstand the extra pressure apart from that there is little between both models.


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[Dirt]

It was a styling measure that Rolex was experimenting with.
It appears they are pulling back from that style of case as each new model is released.

[Rashid.bk]

Submariner = manly dive tool.
So they made it look bigger since bigger watches are popular.
The new Sub in 40mm looks a lot bigger than last gens Sub in 40mm.

GMT = manly dressy professional tool watch.
So needs to look a little less blocky and more toned down.

Rolex took the concept of "maxi" and applied it to everything on the Sub. But I believe Rolex secretly listens. More so in todays era with all the social media and interconnectivity that we have.
The world at large seem to prefer the slimmer cases. The Deepsea while being huge managed without the large lugs and then the SD4K was released....it was nearly universally loved specifically for the case dimensions. Now as has been mentioned Rolex seems to be paying attention, the SD43 is both bigger, and has a tapered case, both thought to be heresy not too long ago, and that cool red lettering, who would have thought.