Clockpunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction similar to Steampunk that imagines a world where technology is based on Renaissance-era clockwork mechanics rather than steam power or electricity, being more surrealist than the latter. Drawing its aesthetic from the Italian Renaissance and Baroque periods (roughly the 14th through 17th centuries), Clockpunk deals with the potential of intricate gears, springs, and levers to create advanced machinery.

The Clockpunk aesthetic is inspired by pre-industrial craftsmanship.

Clockpunk technology is purely mechanical, relying on the intricate interplay of gears, springs, and levers. Common inventions in Clockpunk settings include automatons (clockwork robots), ornithopters (flying machines with flapping wings), and other complex devices powered by winding mechanisms. Because the energy stored in a spring is limited, Clockpunk fiction often addresses the issue of power by incorporating fantastical elements that were part of the Renaissance worldview, such as alchemy or magic, to explain how its complex machines function.

Visually, Clockpunk is highly ornate and detailed, mirroring the aesthetics of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. Machinery is not merely functional but is also treated as a work of art, featuring intricate carvings and elaborate embellishments. Unlike the industrial materials of Steampunk, Clockpunk favors materials like wood, brass, and bronze. The aesthetic also emphasizes precisely polished lenses and mirrors, reflecting the historical period's significant advancements in the field of optics.

It focuses way more on fantasy sceneries instead an actual alternative future, looking more like an lucid dream