Sunday's review: Chavet 121/5 vs Dal Negr* Chavet no 5

Back in the days, Chavet design was and is still made by other wooden toy manufacturers like Mora Viraf, Tournerie Roz and Dal Negr*. The first two are still making them although less and less and only in some sizes and Dal Negr* completely stopped making them.

Update: thanks to mr Audioq actually all those other manufacturer except Tournerie Roz are produced by Chavet, they are just selling them under their names. In fact, there are/were  more resellers like Weible, AF Roland, Cavalier, Westnedge, Studio Anne Carlton etc..

This review is about the current model 121/5 from Chavet and Dal Negr* no 5 NOS (new old stock). Both are weighted and felted. Since both are 99% identical in dimension and weight, the focus will be kept on Chavet version.

Measurd specifications Chavet 121/5:

King 3.54"(90mm)/1.41"(35.88mm) - 41g
Queen 3.05"(77.46mm)/1.41"(35.88mm) - 40g
Bishop 2.68"(68.25mm)/1.18"(30.08mm) - 28g
Knight 2.43"(61.80mm)/1.27"(32.26mm) - 36g
Rook 2.04"(51.81mm)/1.10"(28.02mm) - 26g
Pawn 1.80"(45.75mm)/1.01"(25.77mm) - 12g

Weight set 714g

Impression:
Beautiful design. It is made for play, nothing fancy just solid practical pieces with no sticking out details that can break easily. It's not heavily weighted but still handles well and easily to grab.
Downside is as with every current batch from the recent years, the quality control is sub par. This also applies for Dal Negr* version although it seems the varnish from Dal Negr* is slighty better.

Compared to Dal Negr* the differences are really subtle, one has to see it side by side otherwise it just looks identical. Both are using exact the same leads in size and weights.

The pictures and side by side:

Not much of a fan of the big gotty ball on top of the Queens. 

+1 but otherwise it looks good to me.

@TheOneCalledMichael I believe both of the above are Chavet made sets. They sold under their own name and to other manufacturers (Weible, AF Roland, Cavalier, Westnedge, Studio Anne Carlton etc.). DalN was one of those who bought from them. They also bought from Lardy and many DalN sets used Lardy pieces up to the 90s.

As an example of what I mean, here are some old photos from SAC with Chavet pieces, clearly showing Chavet designations (B210 etc.) but in SAC boxes.

@mr Audi ah yes of course! That makes sense as it's as good as identical sets.

Thanks for the insights, I'll update the review

Yeah, the body pattern is the same for both models, but not the finishes like the crown cuts, the bishops 'mouths, the knights' eyes, etc ... I can't find any difference in the contour of the two models. Therefore they will be made by the same manufacturer but finished by each seller. In any case I like them all

Isn't Chavet no 5 what Marylin Monroe used to wear?

@mr Mar you meant Chanel no 5 no? lol

@Schachmonkey I bought them Jan this year but they're out of stock now. I can't insert the exact link as it will be censured but you can go from here https://www.schaakengo.nl/