1774: The largest orrery still in use was built the Dutch Eise Eisinga (1744-1828) into the ceiling of his living room in Franeker. The gearing mechanism is driven by several pendulums and weights that steer an impressive wheel work hidden behind a wall. The wheels are made of wooden tyres and disks, and the cogs are actually nails. The planets run in visible circular rails. Their periods around the sun correspond to the real times, i.e. Saturn needs 29.5 years for a complete turn. Thus, the momentary positions can be read off at any time. The planetary orbits are divided in accord to the zodiac showing their positions within the constellation figures in the sky.

The inspiration for the construction of this model came from a rare configuration of planets on May 8th, 1774. The moon was in conjunction with Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. Some astrologers claimed that the planets would collide and the Earth would be pushed out of its orbit and burned by the sun. This prediction caused a lot of panic in the region. Eisinga wanted to prove that the worries were unfounded. He finished his work after 7 years, in 1781. In the same year Uranus was discovered, but there was no space in the room for it.