Titanic couple's pocket watch sells for record £1.78m
22nd November 2025
The gold watch of one of the Titanic’s most notable passengers has sold in Devizes for £1.78m ($2.3m).
Isidor Straus’s pocket watch broke records when it sold at Henry Aldridge and Son on 22nd November, reaching the highest price paid for a piece of Titanic memorabilia. The record had been previously set by the same auction house almost exactly a year ago with £1.56m ($1.97m) for a gold pocket watch that was gifted to the captain of RMS Carpathia by three grateful survivors who he had rescued – among them Mrs John Jacob Astor, whose husband perished on the ship. Astor’s own watch sold in April 2024 for £1.175m ($1.5m).
“Pocket watches are incredibly personal items,” said the firm’s managing director, Andrew Aldridge. “Every man, woman and child passenger or crew had a story to tell and they are told 113 years later through the objects that they owned. Items like this keep the story alive and bring us closer to the memory of one of the biggest tragedies of the 20th century.”
Isidor Straus was an American businessman and politician, and owner of Macy’s department store in New York. The 18 carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch had been a gift from his wife, Ida, for his 43rd birthday. When it was recovered from his body it was returned to his family, where it remained until the recent auction. A letter that Ida Straus posted onboard the Titanic, bearing the rare TransAtlantic7 postmark, sold in the same auction for £122,500.
The Straus archive was one of several important collections included in the specialist auction. A rare survival from the Frederick Sutton Collection was his own copy of the Titanic’s first class passenger list. Water-damaged but professionally conserved, it fetched £103,700. The bag that contained his personal effects, following the recovery of his body, sold for £67,375.
Also in the auction was a diary recovered from the effects of Ernest Tomlin, selling for £39,200; while an exceptional five page letter also from his archive hammered at £26,950.
The sale ended with a final total of £3m, with many pieces hotly contested beyond their estimates.
“Some of the prices seen at this sale indicate the continued fascination with this amazing story,” continued Andrew Aldridge. “I’m delighted that we remain the ‘go-to’ saleroom for iconic collectables of this type and our third record price in as many years cements our reputation in this field.”
The next auction for Titanic and White Star memorabilia is on 18th April 2026. Please contact Andrew via andrew@henryaldridge.com for details.
For more press coverage on the Straus watch, see below (external links)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70930781r8o
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/23/titanic-passenger-pocket-watch-sold-record-auction
https://news.sky.com/story/titanic-couples-pocket-watch-sells-for-record-1-78m-13474341
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/world/asia/titanic-watch-auction.html
