Everything has its price and purpose. This set is primarily intended for clubs and tournament organizers. If you buy more than 8 sets, the price is around 30 euros per set. What can be expected for that money? But if someone needs to buy 50 chess sets for a tournament, then the price suits him and he is not interested in whether the pieces are beautiful or not.
https://www.variantes.com/pieces-jeu-echecs-classiques/1762-pieces-d-echecs-chavet-n5-01015.html
Pair up that set with a leather board. That set has a rugged look to them. Make lemonade out of lemons.
Not to beat a dead knight,, errr horse, but here is an update.
Now that it's been 2 days and I have been able to sleep on it, I have decided to accept the knotty, cracked and pitted wood quality as part of owning a current Chavet set. It is what it is. Thank you @jacmater for the interesting information on the wood. But on principle alone, it's not ok to sell damaged products with poor workmanship under the Chavet name. I have narrowed my grievances down to 3 pieces. I have taken a better photo to highlight the 3 issues so nothing is lost in translation. I have sent out eMails to the EU retailer and Jura Buis and await their reply.
Hopefully they can address those three pieces. How come you didn't include the knight with the hole in the list of bad pieces?
Do you mean the white knight with the knot in the back of the head? I felt that was a characteristic of the natural Jura wood. And wanted to focus on replacements for poor sloppy workmanship. If I was to go down the wood "defect" route it would've been a slippery slope because literally every single piece had some sort of minor crack, knot, or pit. I had to draw the line somewhere. So I'm down to being ok with just these 3 replacements. A major carving error. And 2 severely leaning pieces due to improper drying. I 100% feel I'm being reasonable here in this replacement request. Still waiting on the reply...
Hopefully they can address those three pieces. How come you didn't include the knight with the hole in the list of bad pieces?
Oh, that Knight,...
What you missed was that this horse broke his leg. And they needed to put it down. That hole is from the bullet.
Oh wow...now I see the lean bishop too. I overlooked that coz I was focusing on the rook...I have the same marks on the base but a bit larger. I did get replacement for it.
RCM seems to be selling a good reproduction copy. However the Antiqued Boxwood appears too yellow for my liking. Wonder if they would offer it in plain Natural Boxwood.
3.9" French Chavet Tournament Chess Pieces - Antiqued Boxwood (royalchessmall.com)
Not sure if these are respecting the trademark laws. However the colors are completely inappropriate. Better get an original one, as long as the company exists. The juridic status of the current firm is under "Continuation / recovery plan" since oct-2020.
Hoping the best for that brand and its handful employees.
Excuse me you all for my ignorance, but I want to learn and I'm very curious ahaha.
I heard a lot about the Chavet sets, and if I'm not wrong, they're one of the most researched set designs. Can I ask why? I don't say they are ugly or anything close to that, I really like them too, but they seem quite, I don't know, generic? I would like to know if they have this great fame for some historical reasons that I don't know or I simply can't appreciate fully some particular aesthetic features.
..."The grandfather of Mr. Alain CHAVET (Henri), a wood turner by profession, built his factory in 1912, around a waterfall allowing the production of electricity. Then he created a workers' cooperative which welcomed independent artisans: the latter produced for Henri CHAVET or produced boxwood buttons, corkscrews, ordinary or Regency style chess sets, etc. They used the famous boxwood because it is a very resistant wood, heavy and soft to the touch.
In the early 1930s the company received a visit from a British citizen named STAUNTON (descendant of the famous STAUNTON, Grand Non adversary of Paul MORPHY !!), a great chess lover to have his model of pieces made. Then much later it was for the World Chess Championship in NEW-YORK and LYON in November and December 1990 that the players KARPOV and KASPAROV chose to play with the CHAVET pieces.
In the 1950s, Max CHAVET, Henri's son, took over the company and in the 1980s it was Alain CHAVET, Max's son, who continued the company. Finally in 1989, the company Henri CHAVET became CHAVET CHESS to work better on the export of chess equipment.
To this day, CHAVET CHESS still produces boxwood chess sets sold through specialist shops in France and from importers in Europe. The company currently has 8 employees and has been taken over by a former employee Pascal BRANTUS via JURA BUIS CHAVET CHESS les Jeux de Paul.
French players and players from different countries greatly appreciated playing these."...
(source : a french online article published in 2018, google translate)
Me personally, I like the imperfection, and the fact that it's something handmade from a traditional family enterprise, crafted without "glossy style" faked from far east.
Wood is a natural product and these pieces are showing that clearly, without masks.
Just my 50ct.
Just called the factory to get an info from 1st hand;
they are currently running their production to "make stock".
They handle with priority the N°5, then N°3. The previewed date is not before May/June 21.
At this moment not even one single set available.
(I'm currently searching for a N°0 or N°1 for my travelset and chesscomputer.)
..."The grandfather of Mr. Alain CHAVET (Henri), a wood turner by profession, built his factory in 1912, around a waterfall allowing the production of electricity. Then he created a workers' cooperative which welcomed independent artisans: the latter produced for Henri CHAVET or produced boxwood buttons, corkscrews, ordinary or Regency style chess sets, etc. They used the famous boxwood because it is a very resistant wood, heavy and soft to the touch.
In the early 1930s the company received a visit from a British citizen named STAUNTON (descendant of the famous STAUNTON, Grand Non adversary of Paul MORPHY !!), a great chess lover to have his model of pieces made. Then much later it was for the World Chess Championship in NEW-YORK and LYON in November and December 1990 that the players KARPOV and KASPAROV chose to play with the CHAVET pieces.
In the 1950s, Max CHAVET, Henri's son, took over the company and in the 1980s it was Alain CHAVET, Max's son, who continued the company. Finally in 1989, the company Henri CHAVET became CHAVET CHESS to work better on the export of chess equipment.
To this day, CHAVET CHESS still produces boxwood chess sets sold through specialist shops in France and from importers in Europe. The company currently has 8 employees and has been taken over by a former employee Pascal BRANTUS via JURA BUIS CHAVET CHESS les Jeux de Paul.
French players and players from different countries greatly appreciated playing these."...
(source : a french online article published in 2018)
Me personally, I like the imperfection, and the fact that it's something handmade from a traditional family enterprise, crafted without "glossy style" faked from far east.
Wood is a natural product and these pieces are showing that clearly, without masks.
Just my 50ct.
Ah ok thanks for the insight Nisse, that's clearly indicative of the genuinity of these sets. The autenticity and the fact they seem so natural, I understand is clearly appealing.
Just called the factory to get an info from 1st hand;
they are currently running their production to "make stock".
They handle with priority the N°5, then N°3. The previewed date is not before May/June 21.
At this moment not even one single set available.
(I'm currently searching for a N°0 or N°1 for my travelset and chesscomputer.)
Will they ever make size 6?
Why not? it depends on the market situation. If you place an order for 100 sets, certainly 
Modern Chavet is a garbage product on the same level as mass produced chess sets from a factory. Made by hand with machinery in an assembly line fashion. Made by hand without any regard to quality, consistency, or pride in workmanship. Keep that in mind if you decide to gamble and order a set online. Only then will you not be dissapointed.
Glue is also a natural product. Applied and assembled by hand. I guess that's the reason why 14 of the 32 pieces arrived with loose rattling weights.
I guess the knots in the wood can be seen as charming. The slight lean in the white queen, I can overlook. The more severe lean in the white rook will be more difficult. The fourteen rattling weights will be a pain to fix with hot glue. doable. But that black knight. I might have to draw the line there. A Chavet set with a butchered Chavet knight is a tough pill to swallow. Hopefully I'll get a reply tomorrow and see what my options are.
The Chavet knights are machine made. The dents are where it was clamped by the base while the head was worked.