At an auction by Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, in the British county of Wiltshire, the watch of the wealthiest Titanic passenger was sold for £1.175 million, as reported by Sky News.
The watch was purchased by a private collector from the USA. The amount paid for the gold pocket watch of the business magnate John Jacob Astor, who perished on the ship, was noted to be the highest ever paid for Titanic memorabilia.
It was expected that buyers would be willing to pay between £100,000 to £150,000 for the 14-carat gold Waltham watch engraved with “JJA.” According to auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, Astor was considered one of the wealthiest individuals in the world at the time of the Titanic disaster, with assets of around $87 million, equivalent to several billion dollars today.
