It’s me, Mark Stone, and in this episode of the Backseat Driver Podcast, I’m joined by Ilias Strousidis, a racing driver and watch designer whose two great passions, motorsport and horology, have come together in a fascinating way.

Ilias shares his journey through motorsport in his native Greece, from his love of BMWs to competing across different racing disciplines. We discuss the growing Greek motorsport scene, the challenges faced by drivers there, and his experiences at events including BMW Live and endurance racing.

Away from the track, Ilias explains how his frustration at being unable to find a watch that truly reflected his passion for racing inspired him to create Steel Timepieces. We explore how his experience behind the wheel influences his designs, with functionality for drivers sitting alongside distinctive styling and traditional watchmaking craftsmanship.

Ilias also takes me through the process of creating a watch, from the first sketches and prototypes to working with Swiss manufacturers on cases, movements and final production. Rather than chasing mass production, his focus remains on limited numbers, quality and creating something genuinely special for collectors and fellow motorsport enthusiasts.

We also look ahead to the Manchester Watch Show, where Ilias will showcase his latest creations and continue bringing together two worlds with far more in common than you might initially imagine.

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I would like to introduce to the Backseat Driver a young fellow I met the other week at Alton park in Cheshire, who is now back in his home, not far away from Athens in Greece.

Ilias Strasites is a man after my own heart.

Racing driver, watch enthusiast and watch designer.

So, Elias, welcome to the Backseat Driver.

Thank you very much for having me.

I'm very glad to join your podcast.

We met each other last week, as you mentioned, in Woolton Park.

Yep.

In the BMW Live, which is the biggest BMW owners gathering in uk, if I'm not mistaken.

Yes, to my knowledge it is as well.

Yeah.

It covers static BMWs and racing BMWs.

In fact, they're all there.

Yeah.

It was very nice event, I have to admit.

Now, you raced BMW, you did race BMWs, didn't you?

Not exactly.

I didn't race with BMW, so I raced in Greek national championships with different cars in different disciplines.

So from Time attack to cup racing to the Clio cup and also drag racing, quarter mile racing with several cars.

Yeah.

But not BMWs.

I'm a huge fan of BMW and I own two one.

One of them is M3 46.

Yeah.

Convertible.

And I love.

I really am in love with this car.

So now I'm doing track days more or less.

Yeah.

Last year I drive also form in Spielberg.

Yeah.

Austria, I made the test.

But more or less nowadays I'm doing track days more often and only a little bit of racing.

Yeah.

Just know mommy asking, what is the racing scene like in Greece?

I know there is the rallying in.

Greece, but yeah, the rally is very popular because we have a lot of mountains, lakes and all that stuff.

But to be honest with you, liquid racing has not a big footprint.

Yeah.

Like you can see in uk, every region has its own track and maybe its own local championship.

Yeah.

You have Lotus Cup, Clio Cup, Honda Cab, Civic, BMW Cup, a lot of series, Porsche Cup.

Yeah.

But here, no, to be honest with you, England is the Mecca of motorsport.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

Yeah.

If you see in Formula One also.

Yeah.

Eight from 10 factories are in UK.

Yeah.

It's not bimerical.

There is some reason behind it.

So in engineering, in, let's say, in the improper car manufacturing, your country is by far the best, in my opinion.

Yeah.

A lot of the time it is down to the engineering and the design and the manufacturing.

A lot of people were surprised to discover that for many years Ferrari were based in England and not in Italy all the time.

Also, John Barnard was designing the Ferraris in somewhere in England.

Yeah.

In the Past.

So I'll be quite honest.

Is there any circuits in Greece?

Yes, there are two circuits, one circuit.

I gave name of one of my models.

Yeah.

From one circuit I was racing.

It's near Athens, it calls Megara and it's a Greek ancient name because outside of Athens, its own history.

You can google it to see.

And one bigger one which is also FIA compliant.

Yeah.

In Ceres in the north.

North part of Greece.

So I'll be quite honest, I didn't know if Greece had any circuits at all.

How active are they?

Is there a lot of racing at them?

We have a lot of track days once a month.

Yeah.

In both racks.

And also we had six hours endurance race.

Yeah.

And let's say four times per year we have the circuit national championship in Nagara.

Yeah.

Is motorsport popular in Greece?

I said we know the rally's very big out there, but is motorsport as a whole popular?

Yeah, it's popular, but specific needs of people.

Yeah.

But it's getting bigger and bigger every year.

Yeah.

Now with Formula one broadcast it in Netflix and all that stuff, the popularity is increasing drastically.

Yeah.

So how does a Greek racing driver, track day driver, time attack driver, how does he suddenly become a watch designer?

Or are you like me, a fan of watches?

To start with.

Yes.

So I was a watch collector.

Yeah.

And I am still.

But I decided my sisters are living in Switzerland permanently.

Yes.

I'm going frequently and I was.

I want to collect the next watch.

Yeah.

And I couldn't find something to have quality and to be so motorsport oriented below €3,000.

And I said I want to create a brand with this kind of watches.

Yeah.

And limited runs dedicated to these kind of people and collectors.

Yeah.

And started Steel timepieces.

Yes.

Where just out of interest, where does the name come from still?

Yeah.

Steel timepieces.

Yes.

Steel comes from the name of me and my wife.

It's a combination.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We started this business.

My wife, he supported me until now.

And we start manufacturing process in Switzerland.

Yeah.

Small one and we have two models till now and the third is in the pipeline.

So what is the process where you start to design a watch?

I conclude you start with what we will call a blank sheet of paper and go from there.

Yeah.

You're starting with let's say software or less.

I'm not so, so much a paper guy.

I have some engineering and designing knowledge.

The basic one.

Yeah.

And then I hired a professional to help me finish my designs.

Yeah.

So more or less you create a number of cases based on this design.

Yeah.

For a specific movement that you want to use.

Yeah.

You can't use.

Every design has its own movements, to be honest with you.

Yeah.

More or less.

So I create some prototypes and I create a small production of watch cases.

Yeah.

One in steel and one in titanium.

Yeah.

Two different models and we started from there.

You made the cases.

Did you make them yourself or did.

Did a company make them for you?

No, I didn't make it myself.

Another factory I choose to work with.

Yeah.

Created the watches for me.

Yeah.

Based on my designs and my taste.

Yeah.

So we designed the dial and not the straps.

The straps.

And you choose a strap that fits.

Yeah.

Your watch, aesthetically and functionally.

Yeah.

And what.

In what the two designs you have come up with?

What you come up with those designs?

The.

The series is.

It's more based online divers watch.

Yeah.

Because I gave an interview two months before in a watch media in Canada and I explained my logic behind that because many people, they are asking why you didn't produce a chronograph.

Yeah.

And I said basically, my watches won't have.

I want my watches to have functionality, real functionality.

And with the diver layout, you can rotate the bezel and you can measure instinct when you are in the drive day.

So for example, my mechanic told me, alias, you need to drive 20 minutes and stalk.

Yeah.

I go with my bezel to point zero when.

With the actual time.

Yeah.

And then I can measure the difference with one glance when I'm driving.

Because when you are driving, you have seconds to check the watch when you're in the straight line.

Yeah.

You cannot check it on the turns, obviously, even if you are much first up.

And you cannot check the chronographs.

Yeah.

So chronographs for me is an illusion.

It's not a tool.

Yeah.

So I wanted to create a tool.

That's why I use this more simple layout.

Diver layout.

Yeah.

And I used also titanium because I don't know if you are familiar with the watches or you did you make.

I've seen them.

I've seen.

I saw them, but I didn't handle them.

Okay.

If you remember them, Megara is more bold.

Yeah.

And tanium helps with the weight.

Yeah.

And it feels more relaxed on the hand.

Yeah.

On the wrist.

So S426LM, on the other hand.

Yeah.

Is dedicated to M3 46.

And this time I will explain.

Also, the name S is from steel time pieces.

Yeah.

46 Is from the Sassys E46.

Yeah.

LM is lightweight motorsport.

So that's what it means.

I've been looking because I was able to pick up one of your business cars and I saw S46LM and kept thinking, I wonder what that means.

Yeah.

This watch is dedicated on this car.

Yeah.

And as I said to some collectors, they approached me and they the real interest to hear about the story of the company.

The story, the history of the watch.

Yeah.

It has this stealth loop, a PVD coated stainless steel case.

Yeah.

Black.

And the dial usually has the M colors beyond red.

And there is a vertical aperture.

Yes.

To show it is part of the movement.

Because that is unusual.

Most watch companies, when they design something where you can see the movement, it tends to be on the reverse.

And it's an exhibition back.

Also an exhibition back.

But I have an exhibition front also.

Yeah.

Which is very unusual.

You do see some, I think like Richard Milley have an exhibition front.

But regrettably not everybody can afford a Richard Millie watch.

They cost more than most cars do.

And thank you for giving me this thing, this pass, let's say to tell you that in Manchester World show we will present a tonneo shape case watch.

Yeah.

Like Racer Mirror as you mentioned.

Yeah.

And will be a totally skeletonized piece dedicated to inline six engine.

Yeah.

But it will not cost a house.

Now, the movements, are they mechanical or are they quartz?

No, automatic.

Let's define the movements, the movement times.

Yeah.

We have quartz, as you mentioned, with battery.

Yeah.

Automatic that have a rotor and takes the movement of the hand.

Yeah.

And manual winding.

So you need to wing up the watch to start.

Yeah.

These watches are automatic.

Yeah.

With Sellita SW200 Swiss movement.

Reliable.

Very serviceable.

Yeah.

And that's why I choose this movement.

Because it's difficult for a customer from a different country to trust you if you have a proprietary movement, let's say.

But now I have a collector base around me and I want to introduce this manual winding.

Yeah.

Watch with a very modified movement for me from the factory.

It will be an evolution in our collection and I'm really looking forward to that.

Right.

Really soon.

Manchester.

Yeah.

One thing I of all my watches, I do not possess a quartz watch.

Mine are either full manual or automatic.

And as you say, for an automatic, you have to wind it up to start with if it stopped.

But I'm still a great enthusiast for manual mechanical movements.

And do you find that's the same thing over quartz?

I know quartz is accurate, but the problem with quartz is you never know when the battery is going to run out of energy.

And they always say it's about two years.

But I'm.

If I'm wearing a watch, I have to know it is working all the time.

Not that it might be going to stop.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

And to be honest, high end watchmaking does not include quartz watches.

I have some in my collection.

Limited edition.

For example, I have a Tissot Alpine.

Yep.

Dedicated to the first Alpine car that was running to the WRC.

Yes.

Back in the past, in the 70s.

Yeah.

It was a really limited edition piece and I have one vernt.

I have also another Tissot.

It was present.

Yeah.

From my late father in law.

And Yeah.

I have only these two quartz watches in my collection.

Yeah.

The only quartz watch I would have in my collection is the FP Journe Elegante.

Yeah.

Are you familiar with this watch?

It's a.

It's a watch I've heard of.

I can't remember actually having seen one.

Yeah, it's a barrel shape watch, quartz movement.

But this, this movement has, it's, let's say magnificent.

So, yeah, if you don't, if you put the watch on the table for 15 seconds.

Yeah.

The time will stop.

Oh.

And if you wait two days later, the time will adjust with the actual time.

All right.

Yeah.

It's amazing.

I don't know how they do it.

Yeah.

But it's amazing.

This is a high end cord watch, but I think it's the only one.

Yeah.

And did you say it's by.

They're by Baltic.

Baltic.

Baltic is a nice company, but it's a volume company.

Yeah.

Because I know Baltic are now sponsoring the tour autos, all the Peter Auto events.

But I know the Alpine watch.

I wanted to get out to the 70th anniversary but was unable to get there because I, at the moment, I still own An Alpine, a 110, a modern one.

But as you said, the Alpine cars and anything to do with them tends to be very unique and very interesting.

I agree.

So I like also the modern version of the car.

Yeah.

But now they stopped producing it.

Regrettably.

Yes.

They've gone electric.

And just as I'm not a fan.

Of core swatches, electric is not.

It's like Lotus and Electric.

Yeah.

All these guys, they are destroying very big brands and legendary companies that will.

No doubt bring controversy.

I am known for my dislike of electric cars.

The problem with an electric car is, as you'll know yourself, Ilas, they have no feel.

There's nothing about them.

There's no feedback like the watches.

A mechanical watch has a soul.

You can more or less feel it working.

Yeah.

That's why these old cars are increasing in value.

Yes.

For years.

Yeah.

You can see that clearly what the market wants.

Yeah.

And I'm not against to have, let's say a Toyota Yaris electric car to go from point A to point B.

Yes.

No problem with this.

Yeah.

But to have.

Why to buy an electric rotors.

Yes.

The problem is if you look at a lot of the car manufacturers who are going electric, their Jaguar are now non existent.

Porsche are now more or less stopping manufacturing of electric cars.

People don't want them.

The problem is they don't hear the market.

No.

They don't hear the comments.

Yeah.

And the people that managing this car enthusiasts or in this business for many years.

There are some people from other businesses.

Yes.

And they came from the window to manage the car companies.

Yeah.

It's not successful.

Yeah.

So what has been the reaction to your watches?

Was Alton park the other week the first time that the English had seen them?

Yes, it was first time that I present the watches in person.

Yeah.

And really I was impressed.

Good.

Yeah.

I was impressed by the people that came.

Yeah.

Many people came in the stand.

I discussed with many people numbers.

Some of them will come also in Manchester watch show in November and I sold also one.

Yeah.

And I have some other people waiting that they are really interested in.

Yeah.

I didn't expect that, to be honest.

So I mean from the start, if somebody wants one of your watches, where do they get that get them from?

Are their shops selling them or do they deal direct with you?

We are in each company.

We're limited production company and for the time being I had a retailer in UK but I stopped because his mind was behind volume Volume Guy.

And I need to find the right collectors that resonate with the company and our mindset.

Yeah.

And I don't.

I hate artificial scarcity.

Yeah.

I hate these tools that many mainstream brands are using.

Yeah.

So the situation is simple.

You are going to our website, you click Express ingress.

Yeah.

You fill up the form.

Yeah.

And we will receive your request and I will come back to you personally.

One, one person of the team will collect but you will talk with me.

Yeah.

And then you can have the watch.

So it will come direct from you.

I always have to.

I know every, every person that is wearing my watch, I know them.

So we don't have to travel to Athens to get one.

We can ship it in UK and it with our guarantee and.

But I wanted people to meet me, greet me and talk with me.

Because it's totally different.

Because in this case you need to build rasters.

Yes.

Yeah.

Roughly what are the prices of the watches at the moment?

Yeah.

The one watch, the megara watch, has £2,250 as a retail price and the S46LM has £2,550.

So they are very.

They're very similar in their pricing structure.

Yes, they are very similar.

The first watch is 100 pieces, limited edition and the DS46 is 35 pieces, limited production per year.

Yeah.

And have they sold, Are they selling?

Have you more or less sold them all?

I think for this, for the cslm, because now we start to produce it, I think we have 10 pieces available only.

Yep.

And the other, the other watch is when it finished the 100 pieces.

So with Megana we have some, some road.

But the production of S46LM.

Yeah.

Is almost hovered for this year.

Right.

But all the watches, both the existing ones and the ones that are coming, they will all be motorsport orientated.

Yes.

Yeah.

We are always in this path.

Yeah.

And as I said, the next watch will be dedicated to the Inline six.

Engine and that'll be a BMW Inline six, I conclude.

And not a Jaguar.

No, it will be.

Okay.

Mine line 6 is BMW, but also a lot of legendary cars there use this configuration as a Toyota supra MK4.

Yeah.

Skyline ZTR R34.

Yeah.

And as you mentioned, Javier, I think.

Yeah.

So a lot of it is dedicated to a lot of legendary engines.

Yeah.

That the companies used in the past.

So if you don't mind me asking, what else have you got in mind?

What other ideas have you got?

For the time being, I will say with these three watches.

Yeah.

Two we have already and the one we will have in Manchester during November and we will see for the future.

Because to be honest, I want to hear the comments of my customers.

Yeah.

And then to create something else.

Because the one thing with the watch is it is a very tangible thing.

It is.

It's something you need to handle and to wear and to look at and examine and everything else.

Photographs of watches are all well and good, but I'll be quite honest, over the years I've seen a photograph of a watch that I liked and when I actually saw the watch, I didn't particularly like it.

So your marketing of getting people to look at them is actually very interesting.

People to come and see them, to handle them, to talk to you.

This has got to be almost unique in watchmaking, hasn't it?

Yes, of course, it's Totally different experience.

And to be honest, if you are paying £2,500 for an item.

Yeah.

You should ride it on.

Yeah.

That's the reason I took the plane to come.

Yeah.

And meet the people.

And I will come again in November for the Manchester Watch show.

Yeah.

So twice a year in UK for that reason.

Yeah.

And also I will go to Middle east at the end of September.

Yeah.

And I conclude you, a lot of the play, apart from the watch show in Manchester, are you.

Are you taking your watches to other race meetings elsewhere in Europe?

Right now I'm going more when I see on Instagram, on our advertising campaigns, when I see real interest, the people, they want to see the watch because I saw interest from uk because the people in England, they have two characteristics I like.

They are motorsport oriented, of course, as we said in the beginning.

And the second is they want.

They like independent racing car manufacturing, watch manufacturing, watchmaking and limited runs.

Yes.

With our company.

And would it be your intention.

I know it is not something that is cheap to do.

Would it be your intentions to maybe sponsor a car or anything like that, or sponsor a team to promote the watches even more?

Yes.

In the future.

For sure.

Yeah.

We will continue to support the BMW club.

Yeah.

Because to be honest with you, they were very kind with us from the beginning.

Yeah.

They asked many things about the watch and the company to allow us to participate and we started this relationship and we will continue this relationship.

So in the future, if the brand is successful, reasonably successful in uk, for sure, we will sponsor either a championship,.

Either a car, but it will be BMW, because it's interesting for BMW to take an interest in you.

Your product must be extremely interesting and extremely special because BMW will not lend their name or support to just anybody.

Yeah.

For sure.

It will be within BMW community.

I want to stay in our roots.

Yeah.

See.

And of course it will be a BMW car.

Yeah.

I have to tell you,.

And just out of interest, what's been the reaction in your home country of Greece?

Yeah, they saw Ulton park and our presentation there.

Yeah.

And they are very keen to learn more.

Yeah.

And for sure they wanted to see the cars.

I hope I would have more video to send to them.

More.

Yeah, show them.

But I didn't have time, to be honest with you.

I was sure lesser people will come to this tank.

But there were a lot of people.

Yeah.

Because thinking about it not being funny, Greece is not the first country you will think of when it comes to watchmaking.

No.

We have another watchmaker.

Yeah.

And he's producing Warsaw, Switzerland.

Yeah.

He's producing diving watches.

Yeah.

I'm still successful, but I was a second.

And we want to grow, but not so much.

Yeah.

We want to stay limited.

And our, let's say target is to not sell more than 200 watts per.

Year of each model or in total.

Total.

Not being funny, that is a very unusual path to take because most watch manufacturers want to sell as many of them as they can.

Yes.

But then you lose the touch with the customer, with the collector.

Yeah.

And I want to have this personal touch with my customers.

Yeah.

That's why I started this business.

I'm CEO in a different business.

Yeah.

There we are chasing volume.

Yeah, of course.

Because it's an industry.

Yes.

And this is totally different thing.

Now, just to answer interest, how long does it take to manufacture each watch?

It takes to.

If you start from scratch.

Yeah.

If you already have a case or you want to change the dial or something, it will take you three and a half months.

Right.

So, yeah, I'm rushing now to finish the third model.

Yeah.

I believe at the end of September I will have the prototypes in my.

Hand and the third model.

We will be able to see the third model at the Manchester Watch Show.

Yes, of course.

And that is if you.

That is in November to see something like Richard Mille that does not cost million, you can come and see the watch.

I've met him.

He once had.

It's a unique business case.

Yeah.

He asked me, have I had one of his watches?

I said no.

He said, would you like one?

I said, if it's for free, Yes.

I said, otherwise, I said I could buy a very nice Porsche and still have money left over compared to buying one of your watches.

And what.

What's his response?

He just looked at me more than anything else.

He really didn't say anything.

I'll be perfectly honest, I am actually not a great fan of his watches.

I don't particularly like them and though I have spent quite a lot of money on certain of my own watches, there is no way I would spend that amount of money on a watch.

The last time I looked, they require £15,000 to service one.

Yes.

And the strap costs £2,000.

Yes.

It's ridiculous to give £2,000 for a rubber strap.

Yeah.

Yes.

His watches are high end, totally high end, but the prices are not reasonable.

Really.

Yeah.

The thing about your watches is that what you say, call it about 2,400 pounds.

That is a good price to pay for a quality watch.

You will be getting quality, reliability, quality Quality of build and everything else.

And that in the world of modern watches, worth owning is actually a good, sensible price.

Yes, yes.

Many people that approached the stunt or stunt in.

During the BMW live.

Yeah.

They mentioned this, that nowadays the prices are going up and up every.

Every single time.

Yeah.

Without reason or justification.

And for what you get, we are not expensive, let's say this.

No, no, very true.

And all being well, with limited numbers, they will increase in value in their own right.

I hope we will get to that point.

Yeah.

But I don't think now that the people that are buying our watches, they are so interested about the resale value.

Yeah.

But also if you.

If you spent 150,000 to buy Grubel Forsey or a brigade.

Yeah.

Amazing watches, amazing watchmakers, you have to underline that.

But resale value will not be so good.

No, no, that's the one thing people need to look at if they are buying an expensive watch.

Yeah.

Because they are not spending so much money on marketing.

No, no, very true.

So will you.

Will you be able to carry on doing your track days and time Attack and everything else, or is all your time now dedicated to your watches?

Yeah.

I will hit the truck in September.

Yeah.

Nothings.

I'm expecting my tires now.

Missile link up too, for the M3.

Yeah.

Because the old ones are in bad shape.

Yeah, don't ask me why.

Nothing to do with speed and cornering, of course.

So, yeah, I think hopefully I will hit the track somewhere in September.

I'm sure.

Yeah.

And then again, so.

So just out of interest, the watch show in Manchester in November, when is it and where is it?

I don't remember the venue.

Yeah, let me check, let me check the venue.

But it's November 8th, right?

Yep.

So you will be coming to England with your small collection, but your collection will be three this time.

Yes.

The official release of the new watch will be in sister or so.

So anybody who wants to have a look at a still timepiece and meet the man himself, Ilias Strosasides, get yourself to Manchester where you can wear a watch designed by a true motorsport enthusiast and true watch enthusiast.

It will take place at the Bridgewater Hall, Central Manchester.

Yeah, that's Great.

Told you.

November 8th.

I think it's Saturday, November 7th.

All being well, I'll see you there.

I'll try and get myself.

I don't live too far away from Manchester, so I will see you there and have a look at your third timepiece.

I will be very glad to have.

You there, but Ilhas Stasides thank you very much for joining me on the backseat driver.

It's been a pleasure chatting to you and I look forward and hope to see you in Manchester in November.