HAPPY NEW YEAR watch lovers, design fanatics, fashionistas and gizmo geeks!

We are hoping for a truly great year in 2012 (after a slightly tempestuous 2011) and we’ve made three New Year’s resolutions to try and make that happen:

1) More blogging and, if we’re really virtuous, the odd tweet

2) To make it to every single watch fair, even if it is on a Sunday after a massive party and we’d rather stay in bed

3) To find at least two more unique watch lines to add to our selection

Added to that, we hope to continue with excellent customer service (that’s what you tell us!) and genuine TLC for each of our watches, particularly the vintage pieces.

As Quentin Tarantino so brilliantly captures in this scene from ‘Pulp Fiction’, a watch is something that really begs to be looked after. Because a watch is more than just an object that tells you the time – it’s a token of love, a cherished heirloom, a piece of history…

While we don’t go quite as far as storing watches like that, we can promise that we really do care about each one and we give them lots of love and attention. Each vintage watch is hand picked by us, then cleaned, sometimes repaired, often given a new strap or glass, and generally restored to its former glory. We’re sure you’ll want to care for one of them just as much once you’re the proud owner.

Jeez, it has been rather a while since we last blogged – slapped wrists to us! – but it’s only because we’ve been having such a splendid time over the summer. Now it’s back to work, back to warm clothing (well, except for this weird Indian Summer thing) and back to the blog. One of our many lovely diversions over the summertime was a visit from our mate Anna. She’s an old uni friend who’s fled the country to go and live in Chicago, but lucky for us she came back to visit for nearly a month.

Anna: So stylish

One of the things Anna said she most misses when in the US – along with Marmite, Earl Grey and a sense of irony – is the fashion here in London. Apparently there’s only so much Abercrombie and Fitch a girl can wear. Anna is indeed a rather stylish lady – so we were delighted when she added to her tour of London’s coolest boutiques and fashion spots with a little trip to the (unofficial) Watch Me Go shop in N1.

Ever the collector of fine old things and timeless classics, Anna’s eye was drawn to our vintage watches, and she ended up choosing an unusual square men’s watch and a gold pendant. The watch is from the late 50s and was made by Roamer – a company that was founded is Switzerland and then set up a major office in New York in the 40s – and the pendant was made in the late 60s by Sekonda – a brand that had its heyday in Soviet Russia and which had grown out of the Peterhof Lapidary Factory, established in 1721 by Peter the Great.

All suitably international to go with Anna’s jet-set lifestyle! Here she is Stylin’ It with her new watches…

Apparently, at a party she went to in London someone asked her if the pendant watch was by Marc Jacobs. ”No, darling,” she said, “it’s from a watch website called Watch Me Go.”  Ever fashionable, and ever loyal to her friends’ business. Thank you, Anna!

Anyway, we’ve just been to a watch fair and got a lovely lot of vintage stock, so do have a look on the  site. We’ll be posting more examples of people Stylin’ It with their trendy timepieces, promise….

If you want to be featured in one of our blog posts, do send in some pictures of your stylish watch wearing!  info@watchmego.co.uk

He’s done it again. Jean Charles de Castelbajac, arguably France’s most exuberant and quirky fashion designer, has brought out a new batch of weird and wonderful watches for SS2011. They’re bright, artistic, slightly surreal and certain to be a big hit this year…

JC/DC’s first foray into timepieces was in 2009 with the hugely popular Pop Hours watch, based on the Lego bricks that so often feature in his own couture designs. With a chunky strap and invisible touch-sensitive buttons it combines sleek styling with a playful nod to everyone’s favourite childhood toy. Unsurprisingly, it remains a huge hit.

Monsieur Castelbajac striking a suitably avant garde pose.

Then in 2010 came the chunky UFO watch, to tie in with his alien inspired pop-up shop in Selfridges. With lights and beeping sounds whenever you press the button to tell the time, it certainly isn’t one for the shy a retiring fashionista – but it does look seriously cool.

Now he’s brought out two batches of Limited Edition watches, four designed by him and four more by the Parisian design duo Munchausen. Only 1,000 pieces of each model have been produced and they’re bound to sell like hot cakes. The four Time Gallery designs all feature drawings by the great man himself – slightly reminiscent of Hockney sketches we think – picked out in bold primary colours. They are called very strange names like Chic to Cheek and Gone With the Wind and are the epitome of JC/DC: arty, surreal ideas turned into eye-catching and stylish designs.

The other limited edition designs are by Paris-based designers Simon Pillard (who works for Jean Charles de Castelbajac) and Philippe Rosetti. They formed Munchausen in 2004 and have created various quirky household items including a kitchen made out of Lego (notice a theme?) and a sticker that casts a ‘shadow’ of a chandelier under any bog standard light fitting. We have two of their four bold designs: Aldo and Shiro.

‘Horology’ is a Greek word meaning the study of time, and nowadays it’s basically the clever way to refer to all things watches and clocks. There is a huge worldwide community of horologists: watch fanatics who care not just about how a watch looks, but also about its history, workings and provenance.

Picture courtesy of antique-pocket-watch.com

When G and I go to watch fairs to buy vintage stock, we find them full of a wonderful mix of high-end watch aficionados and old men who, in spite of their big fingers and failing eyesight, like nothing more than to tinker with an interesting watch and get it going again. In some ways we align ourselves more with the second camp – we tend not to go buying Patek Philippes and Rolexes (although G is often very tempted!), rather the less valuable but handome and lovable old watches made by smaller brands.

Having said that, since we both got into collecting watches some years back we’ve learnt a huge amount about the history of timekeeping, the famous Swiss watch houses, the different types of movements and mechanisms inside a watch, and the things to look out for when buying. Horology is both a science and an art: you need to know what you are looking at to assess its quality and value, but you also need a good eye and your own sense of style to choose the watches that look and feel great.

We thought we’d share with you some of our favourite watch websites for those who want to know more…

http://vintagewatchbrands.com/ – excellent site with reviews of premium vintage watches

http://horologyzone.com/watch/watch-school/watch-history.html – nice potted watch history

http://www.bhi.co.uk/ – the British Horological Institute

http://www.qpmagazine.com/ – QP watch magazine about high-end watches, new designs etc

Okay, so stopping global warming and protecting the world’s resources is not an easy task. Sure – we all recycle, take the bus instead of the car occasionally and try not to burn down too many local rainforests, but other than that it can be rather an uphill struggle trying to live an environmentally ethical life.

Now Watch Me Go has decided to help make that quest a little bit easier with a collection of watches that focus on eco qualities. We particularly like the way these watches embrace the challenge of being environmentally friendly with some really innovative and striking designs.

Now you can be a tree hugger too

Our wooden watches by WeWood are all lightweight, smell wonderfully woody and will certainly get you noticed with their great-looking wooden bodies and straps – but even better, WeWood promises to plant a tree for every watch sold. In partnership with American Forests, this Italian watch company is taking part in ‘Global ReLeaf’, a project which plants new trees to restore ecosystems in sites around the world that have been damaged by natural or human causes. Our WeWood watches are priced £69 for the analogue style and £79 for the chrono.

Automatic watches are a great eco option as they don’t require batteries, so have no issues concerning electronic waste that can be difficult to dispose of. Automatic watches are powered by kinetic energy from your own body movements, so each time you move your wrist a weight moves around a central pivot inside the watch and winds up the mechanism. Clever! We particularly like the Caocao automatic watch by Ishii Youzi for Japan’s design-conscious Takumi project, which is £135.

Lastly, our solar powered watches by fellow Japanese designer Shin Azumi make a feature of their modern technology by mirroring the larger digital display window with the smaller solar window below.  The Sol watch is a hybrid that uses solar power to extend the battery life by 50%, and it only requires daylight every few days to recharge. The Sol watch is priced at £79 and comes in white or black.

If you want to know more about Watch Me Go’s commitment to being green, read the ‘Save the Planet’ section in our FAQs. To contradict Kermit the frog – it can be easy being green!