Where worlds collide

Although originally from Montreal, Iliopoulos and Polan grew up on different continents. At the age of eight, Iliopoulos moved to Greece with his family, his father and uncle going into business and eventually owning four jewellery stores. It was in picture-perfect Mykonos that Iliopoulos got his first taste of selling jewellery.

Ten years later, he was splitting his time between university studies in Canada and spending the summer months in Greece, where he continued to hone his retail skills. When he wasn’t behind the counter in Greece, Iliopoulos was working at Everest Jewellers in Montreal and picking up a diamond certificate from Gemological Institute of America (GIA), as well as a diploma from École de Joaillerie de Montréal.

A devastating financial loss resulting from a store robbery, however, saw Iliopoulos make Montreal his home for good. It also saw him start up a wholesale silver jewellery company, an experience that helped him learn the ropes of importing into Canada. A bankruptcy involving their biggest U.S. client, however, forced Iliopoulos and his partner to shut down operations. No longer in wholesale, Iliopoulos picked up the distribution rights for Welder, U-Boat’s sister brand.

It was around this time that Polan decided a career change was in order after 25 years with TAG Heuer. His start in the watch industry, however, goes back to 1985, when he joined his father, Peter Polan, in P.M.P Sales Agency, a family business that represented Chronometric Co., TAG Heuer’s Canadian distributor. When the watch brand took back its distribution 14 years later, father and son joined TAG. As an account executive, Polan spent the next few years on the road until 2010, when he and the watch company parted ways.

It wasn’t long before Polan’s and Iliopoulos’s paths would cross, although the two already knew each other—Everest Jewellers was and still is a TAG dealer. A phone call with an offer for Polan to represent Welder laid the foundation for what would become Sothil, a company named after Iliopoulos’s daughters, Sophia and Thalia.