A gold pocket watch recovered from the body of the wealthiest passenger aboard the Titanic was sold at auction on Saturday for a record-breaking £1.175 million.
The 14-carat gold Waltham watch, once owned by business tycoon John Jacob Astor, surpassed the previous record of £1.1 million set in 2013 for the violin played by the Titanic’s bandmaster.
Also sold at the auction was the leather case that protected Wallace Hartley’s violin, which fetched £360,000. Hartley, like Astor, perished in the Titanic disaster of 1912.
The auction at Henry Aldridge & Son featured numerous Titanic-related items, including a chess board made from wreck site wood (£42,000) and a rare pocket book of Titanic’s 1912 sailings schedule (£70,000).
Andrew Aldridge, the auctioneer, remarked on the extraordinary result, noting the enduring allure of the Titanic story more than a century after the ship sank.
John Jacob Astor, who famously saw his wife into a lifeboat and was last seen on the bridge smoking a cigarette, left behind the engraved pocket watch and a substantial estate.
Vincent Astor, his son, inherited the watch and later gifted it to his godson, William Dobbyn. The watch has since been showcased in various museums, preserving its historic connection to the ill-fated voyage of the Titanic.
