From the Archive

Chronology, 1911 to 2026

A hundred and fifteen years, compiled from the Register of Provenance, the minutes of the Council and the house’s letter books. Where the three disagree, the Register is preferred.

  1. 1911

    The Association is constituted

    Eleven makers sign the Articles in Tobias Rosen’s shop on 14 March. Tobias Rosen is elected President. The House is bought in the autumn.

  2. 1913

    The Copyist

    The first piece the Association makes together. It writes Article I.

  3. 1922

    The Lark Lantern

    Anselm Kroll’s singing bird, four years in the making.

  4. 1931

    The Sleeping Hound; Aske Place

    Begun in the winter of 1929–30, the first winter of the Depression, to keep the makers at the bench. The lane is named for Euphemia Aske.

  5. 1932

    Ada Rosen elected President

    The founder’s daughter. She keeps the house open on repair work alone until 1936.

  6. 1946

    The reserve

    Article VIII adopted. The house’s reserve has met its test, to service every piece for twenty-five years without another sale, every year since.

  7. 1958

    The Correspondent

    Made to mark the house’s first year without an unanswered letter.

  8. 1960

    The contested election

    Linus Rosen is elected President over his cousin Hesper Rosen, twenty-two votes to nineteen. The only contested election in the house’s history.

  9. 1965

    An apprentice

    Eldon Rosen, sixteen, enters the movement shop.

  10. 1979

    The first Penfield

    Eldon Rosen’s tone cabinet elects him an Associate. 1,104 are made. The heritage collection closes with it.

  11. 1988

    Eldon Rosen elected President

    On the retirement of his father. Re-elected unopposed in 1995, 2002, 2009, 2016 and 2023.

  12. 1993

    Penfield Mk II

    The contact band, and the Gravity family of registers.

  13. 1998

    Nexus-1

    The first Nexus study, a hand, is finished after two years.

  14. 1998

    The second Register

    A digital copy of the Register of Provenance is begun and checked against the bound volumes every night.

  15. 2004

    Zürich

    A provenance office and small salon open a short walk from the Turing Registry, founded the year before.

  16. 2006

    Penfield Mk III

    The confirmation key. Ottilie Brandvold becomes Master of the Atelier.

  17. 2008

    The Owl is commissioned

    3 March.

  18. 2016

    Nexus-5

    The fifth and last study is completed. It has not left the House.

  19. 2017

    Rachael Rosen joins the house

    She is elected to the Court of Directors in 2021.

  20. 2023

    The Penfield Works

    Built under Constance Ebbing in the old net loft at Everett, with nine tuning rooms, to make the Mk IV.

  21. 2019

    The Owl; the Works

    The Owl is completed on 2 October. The Works open at Everett to build the Nexus-6.

  22. 2021

    The Nexus-6 is licensed

    Turing Registry filing TR-09911, 30 March. The first units leave Everett in June.

  23. 2024

    Two licenses and a recall

    The Penfield Mk IV is licensed on 2 April and the Owl on 20 June, at the house’s request. Six Nexus-6 units are reported outside their licensed domain on 12 November. The line is recalled on 1 December.

  24. 2025

    The Recall Office; the photograph

    The Works become the Recall Office in January. On 14 April the house issues its statement on the owl photograph.

  25. 2026

    The suspension

    The Owl’s license is renewed on 20 June. The Penfield Mk IV is suspended on 3 July, pending a dosage audit.

The chronology records what the house made, decided and was told. It does not record everything the house knows. Questions about any entry may be put to the Archive at provenance@rosenassociation.org.