Franck Muller Ladies Sunset / Curvex / Eta-2671 Conquistador

[cornerstone]

I've been struggling to find the right rep for the missus - and hit upon a good idea (ish). I sat her down in front of 900+ pics of genuine ladies watches at Wingates to pick out what she liked (budget no limit - basically if you have all the money in the world what would you buy.....)

Out of those 900+ watches she picked two watches......and one was a Franck Muller Conquistador I kid you not - only one of the best reps available!!

So major result for me.

The other watch she likes (and probably prefers) is another Franck Muller - the ladies Sunset:

Does anyone know if there is a rep available of this? I have looked around but with no luck. The gen is a quartz.

In my internet travels I also came across this watch: a ladies Curvex (?!), also a quartz that looks very similar:

If these don't pan out, I'm obviously looking hard at the Conquistador - does anyone know if the gen also uses the ETA-2671 (I'm guessing it does - most Ladies Automatics seem to be this)?

[cornerstone]

No ones knows anything about Franck Mullers or the ETA-2671?!

In that case - who has the best Sub?

[dluddy]

Rolex

[cornerstone]

Rolex....

Reps, reps, wherefore art though?

[thedoctor]

The 2 best ladies reps are the patek 24 and chanel j12 from River hands down.

[cornerstone]

I actually spent ages looking into the P24 - I thought it was perfect. I was wrong! "Too square" was what I was told. She doesn't like "too round" either...

I think the Franck Muller Sunset is available as a rep (looks easy to rep) but our dealers might not carry it because it's just a quartz. Means it might be worth asking them to source it...

I found these reps:

Quite a lot of ladies ones there.

I also found this being sold as a rep (can't be sure that it's a photo of the actual one for sale, but doesn't look quite like gen):

Failing these - there's the ETA based Conquistador that the dealers carry. Does anyone know if the genuine uses the ETA 2671 or a different movement? And what's the relevance of the ETA 2671-2 - is that different from just a plain 2671?

[cornerstone]

On the Conquistador ETA front....

The genuine movement in the Ladies FM Conquistador is called the FM 2600: it has, I believe, 28,800 vph and a 38 hour reserve with 20 jewels and a platinum rotor.

Sounds plausible that it is a finished ETA 2671: this has 28,800 vph, (is the same size obviously, fitting a ladies watch), and has a 38 hour reserve. There is a possible discrepancy with the number of jewels - the original ETA 2671 had 21 jewels, but the new ones have 25 jewels and a ball-bearing rotor (this would be the ETA 2671-2 reference I presume). It's possible that he gen 20 jewels information is wrong too (I only found one source for it)

Any thoughts? Or am I way off?

I think I may have talked her around to the Conquistador, even though it's more expensive you're getting more 'watch' for your money. Perhaps, I dunno. At least I know I can get it from a dealer here.

[Watchwatcher]

there are really only a few high quality ladies reps to consider. and because it is your wife, you should go with high quality... otherwise she'll be out somewhere, perhaps with friends, and something will break on the rep and it will be disappointing. or the movt won't keep great time and every few weeks she'll tell you that it's off by X minutes and could you reset it... also not pleasant.

in terms of quality, it is probably hands down,

1) FM conq with the 2600 movt.

2) ladies WG or YG pearlmaster

3) patek 24 (but be picky as there are good ones and not so good),

alternatively, there is a very nice looking Chopard in WG (MOP face) which looks to also be in the same quality level--if you need a link to a pic, i'll dig one up.

good luck!

PS, i have seen the chanel J12 in ceramic, which appears to be good quality, but I'm not sure that it is a good all around watch for most women, as it is somewhat of a 'statement' watch.

Edited June 24, 2006 by Watchwatcher

[cornerstone]

in terms of quality, it is probably hands down,

1) FM conq with the 2600 movt.

good luck!

Cheers! She's picked out the watch she wants - it's the FM for sure. I thought the P24 was going to be the way to go, but I was way off - glad I'm not the sort of person to impress her on the spur of the moment with a gen - lol!

By the 2600 movement do you mean the ETA 2671-2 (= the FM 2600??), or is there a better rep movement that I should investigate?

[thedoctor]

The FM is a great choice. I have a 2892 conquistador and was thinking also about getting a FM for my wife. My wife actually did also say that she didn't like the PP 24 b/c it looked too square and like an old ladies watch. I bought it anyway b/c it was so highly rated by people here and Patek Philippe is the Rolls Royce of the watch world. She loves it. It is much larger looking and wider in person than it does in the pictures and looks like a bright thick shiny bracelet. It is her formal occasion watch.

The chanel is definetly a statement watch. It is very hip. She has gotten so many compliments about the watch b/c it looks cool and there is nothing else like it. It's also quartz so it is highly reliable. Woman don't care about movements being automatic.

[Watchwatcher]

Cheers! She's picked out the watch she wants - it's the FM for sure. I thought the P24 was going to be the way to go, but I was way off - glad I'm not the sort of person to impress her on the spur of the moment with a gen - lol!

By the 2600 movement do you mean the ETA 2671-2 (= the FM 2600??), or is there a better rep movement that I should investigate?

ask josh, i believe in the gen FM, FM takes an ETA 2671, makes a few cosmetic changes and calls it their FM2600, don't know off the top of my head what "-2" refers to, you can find more info at the ETA site, or josh would know. btw, good choice, i have the men's FM conq and it is a beauty.