Up to about the 1970s, >35mm was considered pretty big, 38mm was a jumbo size. I think it’s just that we’ve gotten very used to bigger watches (and perhaps people have gotten a bit bigger generally), but for smaller wrists, sizes <38mm work well in most cases.
I actually really like this size. Even though it was initially marketed as a “ladies” model, the size is quite unisex. Probably works better on a smaller wrist than the 41mm.