Gearing ratio is important when trying to keep the bass in tune. Cheaper tuners are prone to slippage or stiffness, or both hence why it is a good idea to invest in a decent set on a bass as the load is greater than on a guitar.
Acknowledge elephant ear style ones are too big and ugly for a Hoffner shape but there are smaller ones out there, just not sure on the diameter that goes through headstock. From memory all my elephant ear upgrades were slightly bigger and simply sanded that out so that newbies were a tight fit.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk