STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

The way that I've ever heard steampunk referred to as in fiction or art and usually denotes the mixing of older ideals or objects (generally Victorian) with something that's more futuristic and closer aligned with what you would see in a science fiction novel. I think it's been pretty diluted to mean just older things mixed with modern things.

I tend to read a lot of science fiction (and fantasy fiction) and it's a little easier to understand when looking at it through the lens of fiction: stories that are set in the Victorian Age (anywhere mid-1800's through early 1900's for the sake of the term) but mixed with something futuristic, like space travel.

The word steampunk literally means the mixing of times when steam travel was still used with punk. In this case, punk generally means more post-apocalyptic type punk than Johnny Rotten type punk.

Anyway, that was very long-winded way of saying that steampunk fashion isn't just wearing vintage items but the repurposing and redesigning vintage (or vintage-look) items into something futuristic-looking. That watch you bought, while cool, doesn't technically count as steampunk because watches were around in the Victorian Age.

I've never heard of it either - but I really like the watch!

I've heard of it and seen a little, and from what I know of you, D, you aren't steampunk. It's more than mixing old with new. I have a hard time describing it but I know it when I see it, and pictures help. Here are some more, in addition to the good ones XtinaStyles found!

D, I know you're an art connoisseur, so think of Marcel Duchamp's "Large Glass" - the novelty of the mechanized world, but placed in perhaps an anachronistic context based on our current standards.