A WATCH belonging to the richest passenger aboard the ill-fated Titanic has sold for more than £1m.
Henry Aldridge and Son auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire, said the timepiece had set a new house record of £1.175m.
Despite having an upper estimate of £150,000, the amount eventually paid for the gold pocket watch is believed to be a record for an item from the famous ship.
Astor watch
Ahead of the auction, Henry Aldridge and Son described the watch as 'quite simply the most important Titanic watch in existence'.
It belonged to American business magnate, real estate developer and investor John Jacob Astor, who also served as a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War.
One of the richest people in the world at the time, Astor had a net worth of around $87m, equivalent to several billion dollars today.
He and his wife, Madeleine Talmadge Force Astor, had embarked at Cherbourg, France, on April 10, a day before the ship stopped at Cobh (then Queenstown), Co. Cork.
The couple were returning to America from an extended honeymoon in Europe and Egypt after Mrs Astor had become pregnant.
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After the Belfast-built ship struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912, Astor helped his wife into a lifeboat, taking a note of its number so he could reunite with her later.
He then reputedly smoked a cigarette with writer Jacques Futrelle before going down with the ship in the early hours of April 15.
Astor's body was recovered on April 22 and he was identified by his initials on the lapel of his jacket.
The watch was among the items found on him and it was later returned to his son from his first marriage, Vincent Astor.
He had it restored and later gifted it to his godson, William Dobbyn, on his christening in 1935.
Dobbyn's father, also named William, was a close confidante and personal secretary to the elder Astor.
Violin case
The Astor watch was one of more than 260 Titanic items up for auction on Saturday, several of which fetched significant sums.
According to Henry Aldridge and Son, a violin case belonging to Wallace Hartley sold for £360,000.
As the crew loaded lifeboats while the Titanic sank, Hartley led the ship's band as they performed in an attempt to calm the passengers.
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A memo book belonging to William Henry Harrison — a secretary to White Star Line President Joseph Bruce Ismay — fetched £85,000, almost three times its low estimate of £30,000.
Meanwhile, an oak chessboard made from Titanic wood by carpenter William Parker, who aided in the search for victims, went for £44,000.
Henry Aldridge and Son will be holding another Titanic auction in November.
