The watch is among the oldest and most precious in the Royal Palace collection, having been made by Thuret, a watchmaker at the court of France and the Paris Observatory and collaborator of the Dutch physicist Christian Huygens, who was the first to introduce watchmaking the Galilean invention of the pendulum.

The depiction of the myth of Atlas was often used in statuary watches. Atlas, brother of Prometheus and Epimetheus, participated in the struggle between Giants and Gods. Defeated, he was condemned by Zeus to hold the vault of heaven on his shoulders. The bronze artist has depicted the moment in which Atlas, having received the globe on his shoulders, is settling it, while looking for a support on a rock that could act as a seat.

The globe, at the height of the equator, is crossed by a porcelain band that turns from left to right with large Roman numerals. The sun with its rays marks the hours.

The base depicts the symbols of Hercules: the lion skin, on which the signature, the club and the quiver are engraved. The myth of Hercules is linked to that of Atlas, and indicative of the origin of the clock from the Farnese House, which was adorned with Herculean symbols.