So what does this mean? It means that now, more than ever, the HODINKEE voice and message, one that encourages more people to love and explore mechanical timepieces, will be more prevalent, everywhere. It means that we'll have the world-class technology team that built Watchville – which, I think we can all agree is awesome – working with us. Along with team comes Mr. Kevin Rose, who many of us here on the interwebs know from his Digg days, but the man is also a world-class investor and big picture thinker. And that is why Kevin is moving to New York, to work on HODINKEE full-time as our CEO.

So what about me? I'm not going anywhere. Now that that we have arguably the best watch journalist in place as HODINKEE's managing editor, and a world-class entrepreneur in place as CEO, this will allow me to step back and do the two things that I love the most – that unfortunately I haven't had much time to do recently: write, and think about what projects would best serve watch lovers all over the world. Expect big things.

Now, since I know many of you feel closely connected with HODINKEE, I want to share with you a little bit of background too because I'm often asked how the business of HODINKEE works. HODINKEE and Watchville are merging to create one company, HODINKEE, Inc. HODINKEE. Inc. has then secured an additional $3.6 million in funding (it's not a secret – it's published here). This money comes from some absolutely amazing partners, including True Ventures, Google Ventures, Twitter's Evan Williams, Basecamp's Jason Fried, and Mr. John Mayer. All of us will now work together to bring more watch information to more people, with the goal of empowering the consumer first and foremost.

I could not be more excited about what the future of HODINKEE holds, and I hope you are too.

Oh, and be sure to give Kevin's post about the merger a read here. He's moving across the country!