Clockpunk

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Clockpunk is a setting aesthetic related to Steampunk and Dieselpunk, but even older. Like its kinfolk, it runs on the premise of using archaic technology - in this case clockwork - to achieve feats equal or superior to modern technology. Clockpunk is undoubtedly regarded as one of the cooler-looking forms of aesthetic-punk among high schoolers and tumblr cosplayers looking for some nerd cred. With its emphasis on shiny gears and springs and levers, it is particularly popular in more magitek type settings. The problem is that, even more so than the other aesthetic-punk styles, it runs into the whole "that's scientifically impossible!" protest. After all, the generative motion for all that clockwork has to come from somewhere.

Whereas Steampunk is a distinctly Victorian aesthetic, Clockpunk goes back further and typically draws from Baroque or even Renaissance sources. One common source of inspiration is the famed Italian inventor Leonardo Da Vinci, who drafted a wide variety of advanced machines, many of which never came to fruition but would have been the ancestors of many modern machinery (ie Tanks, Helicopters, machineguns, etc). Real-life clockwork machines (specifically, not including clocks themselves) could have been surprisingly complex and capable of very intricate and subtle movements, though they were also prone to failure and the extreme precision needed made them prohibitively expensive; as such these clockwork machines would be limited to novelties for the rich, rather than practical applications like self-powered vehicles or other industrial machinery.

Lenses and mirrors are another key part of the clockpunk aesthetic. Glass blowers had known since antiquity that curved shapes can distort light. But as soon as the technology to make geared machines appears, it becomes possible to precisely polish curved glass into exact shapes, which is exactly what happened in the 14th and 15th century. By raw trial and error, lensmakers figured out the mechanics of optics literally hundreds of years before they understood what light actually was.