 In July 1753, at the age of twenty-one, he invented an escapement for watches that allowed them to be made substantially more accurate and compact.The first man to take an interest in this new invention was Jean-André Lepaute, the royal clockmaker in France, whose clocks could be found in the Palais du Luxembourg, Tuileries Palace, the Palais-Royal, and the Jardin des plantes.Lepaute had been a mentor to Beaumarchais after discovering the boy's talent in a chance encounter in the Caron family's shop.