Steampunk watches

Steampunk is a direction of fiction and an extensive informal subculture based on a rather gloomy dystopian world in which mechanisms reign. Steampunk characters live in an alternate reality, a kind of "distorting mirror" of Victorian England. Characteristic details: steam engines, airships, pistons, valves, levers, gears and other attributes of the industrial revolution. Fans of this style purchase and create a variety of steampunk accessories, including watches.

The clock is one of the most important gadgets for the right steam entourage. After all, the device of a traditional mechanical watch is a system of springs and cogwheels, and it is simply impossible to imagine this style without the use of gears. Any steampunk watch is a very catchy item that attracts attention with a number of features.

• Massiveness, grotesque, loaded with details (spare parts from various equipment, gears, screws, washers, tubes, chains, wire, rivets, springs, lenses, buckles).
• The use of natural materials (metal, wood, leather, glass). No open plastic, polymer clay and polystone are used in handicraft items and in inexpensive Chinese products, but they are carefully “hidden” by masking them “like metal”.
• Calm colors (shades of gray, golden, brown, black). Steel and aluminum are painted to imitate copper, bronze and brass or to create a rust effect, while wooden parts are tinted and aged.
• Decorating with engraving or carved fragments of Victorian patterns, colored glass, lace.
• As a rule, art products are unique and are created in a single copy.

For a real steampunk, a watch is not a trivial accessory for keeping track of time, but one of the most frequently used decoration elements. This device can be seen on various parts of a fantasy costume, both male and female:

• on headdresses: top hats, helmets, caps, caps;
• on vests and men's jackets - pocket ones with chains;
• on ladies' fans, corsets, corsages;
• on a belt, belt, harness;
• on cigarette cases, umbrellas, bags, suitcases, wallets;
• on jewelry: bracelets, pendants, rings, brooches;
• on monocles, pince-nez, eyecups;
• the clock is embedded in goggles (screw goggles with a leather strap);
• they are often used to decorate removable sleeves, gloves, mitts, and bracers.

Bracers are a kind of high armor gloves made of leather and metal, from wrist to elbow. In addition to watches, they are generously strewn with manometers, compasses, metal tubes and rivets.

Wristwatches are perhaps the most common item in steampunk catalogs. In the Internet space, you can choose a design for every taste: from grotesque to laconic.

Pocket options are richly engraved and decorated with carvings. The lid is most often made with a transparent window, in which the "filling" of the gears is visible. Such watches should have a pleasant weight, too light models are made of cheap painted plastic.

Interior clocks are presented by wall and table models. It is not at all necessary that they should decorate the home of only an inveterate fan of the style.

An original wall model with a quartz movement is easy to create yourself: there are many detailed master classes on the Internet, all the technical steps are taken step by step through them, and you can show your imagination in decorating. For the base under the dial, plywood or fiberboard is often used. You will also need spray paint with the effect of aged metal, glue, wire.

Table and mantel clocks will look harmonious in the study and the library, the alarm clock in the bedroom. The mechanized imagery of animals, birds and insects is a habitual motive for steampunk. Popular images of fish, octopuses, owls, dragons, various beetles.

In a separate group, it is worth highlighting the lamp clock on gas-discharge indicators. Their retrospective light will create a special warm atmosphere. The backlight can be permanently or dynamically lit.

Today the choice of watches of this style is very wide. Since the late 80s of the XX century, when the term steampunk appeared, the number of its fans, inspired by outstanding works of literature and cinema, only grew and continues to multiply. The steampunk industry market is saturated with both Chinese stamped crafts and non-standard works of recognized artists in the community. Buying an exclusive watch from a famous master is very prestigious. The creators of quality pieces use vintage watch movements and only natural materials. The best of these works may well be called works of arts and crafts.

If you do not need an accessory for cosplay, but a wrist watch "for life", then you need to look for those where the style is presented delicately, without a heap of handicraft details. The movement can be classic with a mainspring or quartz with a battery.

The industrial style of steampunk was also to the liking of the major players of the watch market (Corum, Devon, Roman Jerome, etc.). Elite brands often release these sassy models in limited editions. Numerous replicas repeat the original designs and are much more affordable.

A stunning example of style is the Devon Steampunk Tread 1. Their steel skeleton case with a bronze coating reveals the work of the filigree mechanism.

Geneva watchmaker Ivan Arpa, in a creative alliance with his wife, an artist, has created many hooligan models inspired by steampunk culture. For the famous company Romain Jerome, he developed the Titanic-DNA watch, the case of which is made of the picturesquely corroded metal of the sunken Titanic. The black coating of the dial contains coal dust from the furnaces of the legendary ship.

A The limited edition RJ Cabestan straps are carved from the leather of surviving seabed sofas, part of the ship's luxurious furnishings. The watch does not have the usual dial; the winding mechanism is like a mini-winch with a chain wound on shafts.

In the Romain Jerome collection there is a model with the “telling” name RJ Steampunk. The dial houses the ship's propeller and four large steel bolts that hold the rim. In one of the variants of this model, the technique of the Victorian era is engraved on the bezel of the watch: an airship, a submarine, a steam locomotive.

Echoes of steampunk motifs can also be found in Jorg Hysek products.for example, at the Colossal Grande Complication with a skeletonized movement full of intricate details.