A gold pocket watch belonging to a Titanic passenger has been sold for a record $2.3 million at an auction at Henry Aldridge and Son in Wiltshire, UK. The Jules Jurgensen chronometer belonged to Isidor Strauss, co-owner of the largest American department store chain. He was traveling on the liner with his wife, Ida, in a first-class cabin.
When the ship began to sink, Strauss refused to board a lifeboat while the women and children remained on board. His wife, Ida, also refused to leave her husband. This touching story inspired James Cameron to create an episode in Titanic in which an elderly couple hug in bed as the cabin gradually fills with water.
Isidor’s body was found in the Atlantic Ocean a few days after the tragedy, but Ida was never found.
The 18-karat gold watch stopped at 02:20 – the time when the Titanic sank on the night of April 15, 1912. The chronometer was a gift to Strauss for his 43rd birthday and is engraved with the owner’s initials.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge noted that the record price of this lot indicates the unquenchable interest in the story of the sinking of the Titanic and the “great love story” of the Strauss couple.
