Does anyone have experience with chess sets from Tournerie Roz?

Ah I did read that long time ago but didn't remember that part where it's saying the knights were made by Chavet. But than this makes me think, Chavet hasn't been producing any sets for the last 2 years at least. If they still produce knights for Roz, why wouldn't they produce the whole set because two years ago the chess industry was booming, they could have made lot of profit then.

Another thing is, Roz knight looks like spitting image of Mora's knight, a Spain toy maker and Mora still produces sets till this day. If Roz does indeed outsourcing their knights, I'd think it's more likely Mora is the manufacturer that makes their knights.

I think we should ask mister Jac as he lives in that region, send him to local taverns and let him unravel the Jura mystery

Haha, mr. Jac is the one who asked the question! But you are true,  I could ask them as I have a house close to their village but I just realised that the knights are not exactly the same as I said before: 

Oh you're right! They're not exactly the same as I thought.

I have bought a set of chess from Alex.H & Abel.C from amazon, which it surprises me! And it looks ecquisite and gorgeous.

https://www.leparisien.fr/economie/business/une-serie-netflix-relance-le-fabricant-de-jeux-d-echecs-du-jura-02-03-2021-8426814.php

Ah oui oui, merci beaucoup monsieur! Tres bien!

Thx @Walterbiensur for verifying this !!  So French design with a Spanish twist. It's a fine carved knight. Better than the latest Chavets I've seen. Had to refresh the ear snippets of the black knights with a marker though. But that is probably due to transportation.

I have an Italian set, from Dal N. it looks very much like the ones from Tournerie de Roz

The quality is not as good as old Chavet sets and it looks cheap.

The chess sets from the jura have indeed the tendency of having cracks but also have real feel and charming appearence.

I think Jura wood is really wonderful, quite dense and heavy. If you got a Jura wood set that was made from totally cured wood I'd think it will last forever.

I also  agree. I was getting tired of  the triple weighted sets from India. Was looking for simplicity. I belive I found it with this set. The eventual cracks and flaws just seem to add to their charm.

I believe "Dal Negr*" are reselling these as well as the Chavets. Believe you can still get the Chavet in some shops.

Yes Dal Negr* rebadges them but they're exact the same pieces. Fournier is another importer that sells them under their brand.

Tourneriez Roz closed in October 2022. As for Chavet, the company was sold two times in the last 10-15 years, first to Jura Buis, which was sold later to Les jeux de Paul, which closed in 2018.

It is said on the French web forums that in the last years, due to impossible competition with chinese made plastic pieces and indian workshops’ wood pieces, Chavet was only a trademark for pieces manufactured in other places than France. Which could explain why some here complained about their quality and rendering.

With regards to these two companies, what drove them to an inescapable end is that despite their many generations knowhow, they were mostly landlocked, entangled in a business with not enough margin in a market of extreme competition, so they couldn’t hire people to export. If you add to this their genuine positioning, which was mostly middle market, their disappearance was unavoidable.

But for all those who played blitz with their unfelted pieces in the 80s and 90s in chess clubs all over France or in chess cafes in Paris, it is still heart breaking. Great design, perfectly balanced and stable enough for blitz, playing with them was a joy.

Unfortunately there are very few chances that French chess pieces manufactures will be reborn, since another issue is that due to global exchanges of goods including plants, a chinese butterfly, which is a parasite of boxwood has rooted in France, so there will be probably no more western Europe boxwood in the next 5-10 years. (Western Europe boxwood has a distinctive colour: a white similar to maple, if compared to other regions boxwoods which are a lot more yellowish)

Just as chess exploded, they fold. Bitter irony.

Absolutely agree.

This is too late anyway and in the end we all will live with it hahaha
What utterly saddens me is that traditional French pieces distinctive designs — elegant but sturdy knights, bishops, rooks etc, and a different triangle design in the army, with the queen a bit higher than the king without its finial — will die slowly with poor reinterpretations by other side of the world workshops , which are not even able to copy them properly :/

Well put. I'm hoping that someone in France might still step up and continue the tradition, but it seems more and more like it's becoming a lost art.

I only wish I could try some of those Roz sets from the 80s and 90s. They are pretty much unheard of here, so I have never had the chance.

Hi , I purshased a n°5 weighted and felted last year, when Roz stopped activity. Il like the set, but I find that the knights are too big at their base, they are poorly proportioned. Chavet knights are prettier.