This Pocket Watch From the Titanic Just Sold for a Record-Breaking $2.3 Million

In April of 2024, an American pocket watch owned by John Jacob Astor IV—who died when the Titanic sank in April 1912—hammered for nearly $1.5 million, making it the most expensive piece of ephemera from the ill-fated vessel ever sold at auction. Then, last September, that record was in turn beaten when a gold Tiffany & Co. pocket watch given to the captain of the Carpathia, which rescued many of the survivors, sold for nearly $2 million. The buyer was none other than Tiffany & Co.

Well, it would seem that records are made to be broken. Just last week, yet another pocket watch smashed the most-expensive-Titanic-item record yet again, hammering for roughly $2.3 million at Henry Aldridge & Son in the UK. Fashioned from 18K yellow gold, this open-faced, enamel-dial beauty. Ida Strauss gave the watch to her husband Isidor on the occasion of his 43rd birthday in 1888. Born in Bavaria, Strauss immigrated to the United States with his family in the 1850s and later gained a controlling interest in the Macy’s department store chain alongside his brother.

On board the Titanic on that fateful April night, Ida famously refused a spot on a lifeboat, electing instead to remain with Isidor. Isidor, for his part, was offered a spot on a lifeboat given his age, but likewise refused, preferring to remain with his wife. Last seen grasping one another when the ship sank, Ida’s body was never found, but Isidor’s was recovered several days later. On his person was the gold pocket watch, made by none other than Jules Jürgensen, the famous Danish marque recently revived as Urban Jürgensen under the leadership of star watchmaker Kari Voutilainen.