Sunday's review of Chavet 121 series no 6

This review is about Chavet latest design of type 121/6, weighted and felted. Although Chavet still produces the 121 series, it seems they stop producing no 6 since couple of years. This set is NOS (new old stock) that I found recently.

Typical characteristic of Chavet chess set is the knight, mainly for it's long snoot and fat belly.  It's turned from one piece of wood. The wood used is from Jura region in France, known for it's swirls grain. The swirls will disappear as time goes by and it will develop nice patina.

Measured specifications:

King 3.72" (94.48mm) / 1.48" (37.67mm) - 48g
Queen 3.48" (88.45mm) / 1.47" (37.45mm) - 44g
Bishop 2.81" (71.35mm) / 1.34" (33.96mm) - 33g
Knight 2.66" (67.60mm) / 1.42" (36.07mm) - 43g
Rook 2.23" (56.58mm) / 1.25" (31.8mm) - 32g
Pawn 1.92" (48.66mm) / 1.17" (29.64mm) - 18g

Weight set: 904g

Impression:

It has average base broad wise, but still handles well. Quality of wood is below average as they let the quality control slip away in the most recent years. Still, with it's historic past and the beautiful design I love it.

Complementary pictures:

Beautiful set and review Michael. My favourite posts on this forum are the reviews of chess sets, such a pleasure to read them and see beautiful pictures of beautiful pieces.

You could say Chavet is my first love, such a beautiful horsie and good design to boot too! There is nothing you can break, just a solid set of pieces. It's like the volkswagen under cars, it just keeps going

What a difference 5mm makes. A measly one-quarter of an inch in height from my size 5 and your size 6. The difference in quality is night and day. All of a sudden Garbage Chavet pays attention to the wood. Sharpens the blades and fine tunes the machines. I still see tool marks though. Can't have everything! Hah. It IS modern Chavet after all. 

I don't see any Leaners there. Any loose weights? I'm up to 26 loose weights on mine. 

I can see why modern Chavet stopped making the Size 6. It takes too much effort to do things right and make a decent set like yours. 

Thanks for the review! The knights are beautiful as always. I did not notice the tool marks and dings until I zoomed in. Overall it looks very nice. It is not perfect but it is not a reproduction either. It is still made by Chavet.

[edit] btw I like the Garde clock in the background. It is IMHO a very elegant clock.

@mr P: actually I also have 121/5 and quality of wood and turning are basically the same lol. I do feel the difference in playing though, it's subtle but it's there.

No leaners on this one as far I can see and yes there are several loose weights, trade marks of Chavet this days Someday I will refelt the pieces then I will reglued all of them.

@mr Mc they change the design of bishop, queen and the rook for the worse but thankfully they keep the horsie! You said it right mr Mc, despite it's quirks it's still made by Chavet! Knowing playing an original gives some dimension imo.

Yeah, old school clock, old school pieces on old school board design it just feels right

@TheOneCalledMichael I did notice the change to the bishop but didn't notice the queen or rook. At least the knight still looks good.

very nice review! easy when the review is from a chavet, so beautiful, set! threats like this make me stay online the full day and that's a problem!! No, seriously, they are a good contribution to the forum, thanks for sharing!

I notice the Queen has a big ball top instead of a nipple shaped gum drop. Very nice subtle change there.

Nice review of this old set. May not be as iconic as the vintage size 6, but it's still a nice set. The King and Queen of this set are more reminiscent of the old Lardy sets that previous Chavets IMHO. 

@mr Audi yes sometimes I see so much similarities in both sets (Lardy and Chavet) that it makes me wonder, are they sharing the same turner factory or something like that? I would love to know the timeline of Chavet since 1912 and their interactions with Lardy but can't find the complete info.

Good question to which I don't know the answer. I have emailed some old Chavet email addresses on this but have never got a response.

Thanks for the review Sir. I really like chess sets that are solid and easy to hold and feel, that are well-balanced with good proportion among the pieces and the Chavet set is on top of my list. I don’t have the real deal yet and I’m still ‘researching’ (and my searches almost always will bring me here in this site). I already have the Dubrovnik 1950 that I really like but the Chavet set with the beautiful, solid-looking Knight design is just unbeatable. Made me pause from whatever I’m doing at work to just browse and stare at those well-crafted Chavet Knights, LOL…

Looking forward for more information and pictures from you all Chavet enthusiasts 😉.

I must have missed this review. I didn't realize you had a no. 6. Nice set!

I agree mister! The beauty is in it's simplicity.  No fancy no nonsense robust solid pieces made just to play. The Dubrovnik 1950 is indeed another robust set which also excels at playability although a bit on the heavy side (this is personal preferences regarding weights).

I can understand, I should have put Paul Morphy in the title to draw your attention

Chavet still advertises as one piece for the knight. The other pieces are turned so they're always one piece. Although nowadays the knights are also turned.

Thanks for that information.