When I was engaged in violin repair, I cannot tell you how many saddle cracks I fixed. That was in Austin, Texas, in the mid to late 1970s, and it seemed that every other instrument that came into the workshop had cracks extending into the front originating at the ends of the saddle.
When examining the first few Cremonese instruments I was given access to, I noticed odd rib graft insets that had been placed under the saddle. Upon seeing the first one, I assumed there had been some damage under the saddle that necessitated the patch. It seemed like an odd pace to have damage, but by that time, I had seen a lot of odd repairs on instruments, and I simply filed the patch away in my memory under "things not fully understood."
The second instrument I saw with the same type of patch under the saddle, I thought even more curious, and the third one I recognized as a common alteration to these instruments that I just did not understand.
Then I saw an unaltered 17th c. violin and saw that the saddle, as well as occupying its usual space, was set into the bottom block. At that moment the reason for those rib patches on the other instrument became clear. That style of inset saddle had become the victim of the "modernization" of the violin. My question was, "Why?" The inset saddle completely solves the problem of saddle cracks in fronts. Rather than the stress from the tailgut resting on the saddle being transmitted directly into the end grain of the front plate, that strain is absorbed by the mass of the lower block, leaving the end grain of the front resting easily.
It is unfortunate this style of saddle was replaced with an inferior design, and I feel strongly that all instruments would be better with an inset saddle.