The chief figure on the clock is Hercules, after whom it is named. He is dressed in classic attire with a lion skin draped over his shoulders. In his right hand he is raising a glass in a toast and in his left he holds a bunch of grapes. Next to him is a plinth housing the clock dial and movement, surmounted by a large basket full of fruit. To the left of the plinth, there is a pedestal supporting a pitcher and rod with a laurel wreath. The whole stands on a base supported by four acanthus-leaf feet. The front of the base is decorated with a scene in relief showing four putti or winged children. The ones at either end are playing musical instruments. In the centre, standing, adorned with a garland of flowers, another child places a bunch of grapes in the cup held by the fourth one. On the front of the plinth housing the dial and clock movement, a child Bacchus is depicted holding a cornucopia.

The dial is in gilded bronze with the hours in black-painted Roman numerals, The centre disc is in imitation guilloché. The Breguet-type hands are of blued brass. Two winding holes. The frame surrounding the dial is decorated with branches and bunches of grapes.

It has a French round-plated pendule de Paris movement with an eight-day spring-driven going train. Anchor escapement. The striking train sounds the hours and half-hours on a bell using a countwheel system (some pieces are missing). Glazed door at the rear to protect the movement.

All the decorative elements suggest that the character depicted is Hercules, who was introduced to wine-drinking by the god Bacchus.

Tardy, in his Dictionnaire des horlogers français, listed a Dartois Fils in Paris, with a shop on the Place des Victoires, who worked as a clockmaker between 1820 and 1840. He was also a bronze artist.

Amelia Aranda Huete