The present clock depicting the three Graces (Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia) is modelled after the celebrated carved marble group by Germain Pilon (1535-1590) in the collects ions of the Louvre Museum (inv. no. M.R. 1591 A-B). The Three Graces by Pilon was a monument commissioned in 1561 by Queen Catherine de Medici in homage to her deceased husband, King Henri II. On their heads, they bear an urn which once contained the heart of Henry II.

The idea for the monument may have come from Primaticcio. In charge of the building site at Fontainebleau under Henry II, he was appointed director of Royal tombs by the Queen. The Three Graces were probably inspired by an antique sculpture of the triple deity Hecate. They also recall a cassolette designed for Francis I by Raphael and engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi.

In the 19th century, casts after this model were made by the leading bronziers of the t.mes , including Victor Paillard (1805-1886), the talented collaborator of Ferdinand Barbedienne who often retailed his pieces. Paillard trained in Paris as a ciseleur and was a pupil of Jean-François Denière. He opened his firm circa 1830 at 105, boulevard Beaumarchais and at 6, rue Saint-Claude and many of his mounts are seen on furniture pieces dating from the mid-19^th century. His work was exhibited in 1839 and 1844 at the Exposition des produits de l’industrie, and in 1851, 1855 and 1862 at the Great Exhibitions. Paillard received a great amount of commissions but the most prestigious commission perhaps occurred in the 1850s with the decoration of the Palais des Affaires Étrangères on the Quai d'Orsay.