What are French clocks like?

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2012)

There are already plenty of reviews about Hugo and another one singing it's praises wouldn't really add much so I won't bother with that other than to say it is one of the best films I've seen this year.
However, there is one query that I have and that concerns all the clocks in the film. I have never been to France and so I have absolutely no personal experience to draw on. When I was at school several decades ago (but later than the 1930s date of the action in Hugo) I was always taught that the French used twenty-four hour clocks. I cannot imagine that a director with the acumen and expertise of Martin Scorsese would make such an elementary error as having the wrong clock in French railway stations and also no one has mentioned this in the goofs section so what's the answer please?