Titanic passenger's pocket watch sold at auction for a record $2.33 million

A gold pocket watch belonging to a dead Titanic passenger was sold at auction last weekend for a record-breaking £1.78 million, equivalent to $2.33 million. This was reported by the British newspaper The Guardian.

A watch belonging to 67-year-old Isidore Strauss went for £1.78 million at auction, the highest amount ever paid for Titanic memorabilia. This lot – an engraved Jules Jurgensen watch weighing 18 carats – was given to him as a gift for his 43rd birthday in 1888.

The previous record for the sale of a Titanic-related item was set last year when another gold pocket watch presented to the captain of the ship that rescued more than 700 passengers from the liner was sold for £1.56 million.

Strauss was born into a Jewish family in Bavaria in 1845. He emigrated to the United States with his family in 1854. It was there that Strauss made his name as a partner in the New York department store Macy's.

Strauss and his wife, Ida, were two of the more than 1,500 passengers who perished when the Titanic sank in 1912, and two of the relatively few first-class passengers to die in the tragedy.

When the ship began to sink, it was reported that the couple made it to the lifeboats, where they were offered seats due to their age, but Strauss refused the seat before the other men. Ida refused to leave him, and they were last seen alive sitting on deck chairs.

The couple was depicted in James Cameron's 1997 movie Titanic. The characters are shown lying on a bed in the cabin while it was being filled with water. The Strauss clock was later recovered from the wreckage and returned to the family.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "This record price is testament to the enduring interest in Titanic's story. Every passenger, man, woman and child, and crew member had a story to tell, and 113 years on, those stories are being told through memorabilia."

• On November 13, 2023, it became known that the evening menu card for first class passengers from the Titanic was sold for 84,000 pounds.
• In December 2024, it was reported that American manufacturer Tiffany & Co. has purchased a gold pocket watch of the captain of the ship that rescued the Titanic passengers for $1.97 million at auction.