This model was originally created by Jean-André Lepaute to commemorate the near total solar eclipse on the 1st of April, 1764, accurately predicted by his wife, the mathematician Nicole-Reine Lepaute (1723-1788), in 1762. Nicole-Reine (also called Hortense) was a talented mathematician, who was hired by the director of the Paris Observatory in 1757 to study the path of Halley's comet, and later worked as an editor of the astronomy annual of the Académie des Sciences, among many other things. A similar example of this model can be found in the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (29.180.2).

Spelled both Le Paute and Lepaute, this celebrated dynasty of horlogers was founded by Jean-André (1720-1789) in 1740. He settled in Paris and was appointed horloger du Roi with lodgings in the Luxembourg Palace. His innovative ideas, such as the échappement repos of 1753, as well as his writings, including an impressive Traité d'Horlogerie (written with the assistance of his wife), published in 1755, earned him the title maître and lodgings at the Louvre by 1759. His brother, Jean-Baptiste (1727-1802), also became horloger du Roi and succeeded him in the Galeries du Louvre lodgings in 1775 after taking over the business in 1774. Jean-Baptiste retired in 1789, giving way to his two nephews.