I used to think the same but I think it is largely an optical illusion due to the waist in the bar of the Facile Princeps.
I measured the three doubles I had handy and found the following water table lengths measured from the standing breech face to the ledge which lines up to the center of the hinge pin.

W.R. 400/350 = 1.83"
Greener 360No.2 = 2.03"
Springer 8X57R = 2.15"

I always preferred the looks of a long bar and there are good reasons for a longer radius from the hinge to the breech face - one being that a longer radius requires fewer degrees of opening for the ejected shells to clear the top of the fences so, in theory, a quicker reload.
Another, similarly, is that cartridges of larger rim diameter can be extracted with fewer degrees of barrel drop with a longer bar.
There is also some theory that a longer radius from hinge to breech resists the forces of opening the action upon firing but I think that is pretty much negated with two bites on the lumps and a third bite of some sort so is probably a moot point.