Does anyone have experience with chess sets from Tournerie Roz?

From what I've gathered, they used to make some of Chavet's chess sets back in the day, and still make mostly the same design. I do appreciate that they seem to make the sets themselves in house.

I was looking at this boxwood No5 set: https://www.tournerie-roz.com/jeux-de-societes/1-jeu-echecs-buis-teinte-poli-antique-naturel.html

What do you think? Could it be a good alternative to indian boxwood sets that are usually found on HOS/Chessbazaar/etc?

Their work looks nice, considering the limited number of photos (and no close-ups).

Looks like Tournerie Roz sells extra Queens separately for Pawn promotion. Might as well add those to your cart too. In terms of quality, there is no possible way Tournerie Roz can be any worse than modern Chavet. Modern Chavet has very low standards. Leaners, knots, splits, loose weights, etc. Or you might get something that is fine. A total gamble on what you will receive in the sealed modern Chavet box. Bonne chance!

To see a little how they work: 

https://youtu.be/VSeKTbNYUGs

Very cool, thanks!

Definitely looks like a quality set.

My step-father is French. I sent him this video link and he replied:

“Very interesting.
There’s only 20 odd chess pieces manufacturers left in France,apparently.
They collect the wood in Spring and leave it to dry under cover for 2 years.
The wife is the checker of the turned pieces and throws away one in 5.
Very old family business. 5th generation.”

It was a quick watch - where he skipped bits - he may have some time to watch again later and provide more insights. 

All these replies convinced me. I'll have to figure out a way to buy this! I have no doubt that with so much history and experience behind the production of these chess sets, they must have a good amount of expertise.

It seems they only deliver to France, but with a proxy shipping service it should be no problem.

And since I'm going to go through the troubles, I'll get this cute No0 set along with it: https://www.tournerie-roz.com/jeux-de-societes/8-jeu-dechecs-buis-n-0-teinte-poli-noir-et-naturel.html

I bought these pieces from AlphaEchecs.fr: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/review-of-staunton-europa-no-5-by-mora

They seem quite similar, especially the Knights, Rooks, and Pawns. The other pieces by Mora seem to be somewhat more bulky than the Roz pieces.

I like my set, though it's not quite heavy enough for my taste.

I've heard that these current Chavet sets coming out of France are poor quality. That's what I have heard but not experienced 1st hand.

Hi

Decided to post on this old thread, since I wanted a new chess set and got myself some Tourneri Roz. I've ordered them unweighted and unfelted for the amount of  75 Euro. Decided to felt them myself though. I've chosen this set over the Chavet, since I find the design more appealing. I would sum up the differences compared to Chavet as:

- The Ball on the queens head is more discrete. This is highly  appreciated.

- The Body of the King and Queen seems slimmer, giving it a more elegant look.

- The Bishops are quite different. I'm kind of neutral to which one I prefer.

- The Muffle of the knight seems to have been sharpened a bit giving it a dog-like look and a bigger mouth is carved.

- Head of the pawns seems bigger, making it more suitable for a bigger board than the recommended 50mm. 

Compared to the reviews I've read about todays Chavet sets, I would say the quality of the Tourneri Roz is better. The Jura wood stands out great. No excessive black dots. Pieces stand straigth. Maybe only a slight lean on the white king. No obvoius carving errors seem present. 

With that said, it does have some of the same issues. The packaging is poor. One can literally sense the pieces rattling and rolling inside box, as soon as the delivery service approached you with the package. Several battle scars are already imminent in the pieces, when unpacked. I assume the poor packaging to be the cause of these. So obviously, this set is for play and not for show.

All in all I'm satisfied with the set, although it probably doesn't meet the quality standards one would expect for a set in this price range.

You should only buy this set if:

1. You are nostalgic about supporting European/French craftmanship

2. You love the look of that Jura wood.

3. You want your pieces unweighted/unfelted

If all of the above is nonsense to you, you should probably go for an Indian set, which are of higher quality and more affordable.

the package:

play:

The Jura wood:

The knights:

some battle scars:

It's obvious which side of the box belongs to the black pieces

Thanks for the review and pictures @mchrist. I ended up not following on my promise to buy one of their sets because by the time I was ready to buy one, they had gotten rid of the felted & weighed sets and I didn't feel like doing it myself.

It seems like a decent set, but I think the points you highlighted are important to consider. I will likely not buy one in its current state and at the current price.

Nice set and review, I always wondered if Mora is the manufacturer of Roz knights as they look exactly the same. All the other pieces remember me the Chavet and Lardy pieces. 

Mora and Roz both produce their own set. You can easily 👀 the difference in the bishop head and thinner stem just below the king's head from Roz.

@jdsto. Glad I could help you with your decision. Another thing is the weighted set, which I know nothing about. Understand there were issues with lose weigths on the recent Chavets. Interesting how it work out with Roz.

@TheOneCalledMichael @jacmater. According to my research, Roz should produce everything except for the knights, which they should get from Chavet. They don't excactly look like Chavet knigth. So whether they update the knights they get from Chavet or get the knights from somewhere else, I'm not sure about.

Roz tournerie has been at least 2 generations in woodturning business, they also sell sets with different knights. On their FB there is a movie and there is a shot of the husband making one of those knights. He has the equipments to turn those pieces, so I'd think he makes them all especially when they're small business, outsourcing the knights would cut their profit margin.

https://www.facebook.com/100004913915331/videos/705211062986018

@TheOneCalledMichael. Fair enough. Had a look (can't claim I had a listen :-)). It doesn't look like chess set knights though. Not sure what kind of game they are for.

Anyway... I got my research from here:

http://www.chess-museum.com/chess-piece-production-in-the-jura.html

which also should provide a nice overview of chess piece production in the Jura. It mentions that knight production is dicey business and therefore outsourced to Chavet.

This might be a bit outdated though. As I understand it, Tourneri Roz were shut down, then decided to open up again due to the Queens Gambit rage and are planning to retire soon unless they find someone to take over. So who knows how it is today.