THE MILITARY ACADEMY

hen you suffer, as I do, with an addiction of the horological kind, you attempt, in the quieter moments, to trace its origin. For me, it was a stonkingly warm summer evening in Nice; I was in my early twenties, and I was fortunate enough to be roaming the wonderful promenade. Such was the strength of the sun, I had to take solace inside the iconic menswear store Albert Arts (founded by Jean Goldberg of Façonnable). While the store was wonderful (heavily inspired by everything British), the manager, a suave, charming Frenchman in ecru shorts and a denim shirt, was rocking an oversized, black, square watch. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It was like nothing I had seen before. I asked him about it, and