The gold watch of John Jacob Astor, the richest man aboard the famous Titanic, was put up for auction on April 27.
The 14-carat object, engraved with the American’s initials, shattered all records by fetching more than a million euros.
More than 112 years after its sinking, the Titanic continues to fascinate. To the point that a gold watch, which belonged to the ship’s richest passenger, the American John Jacob Astor, sold for 1.37 million euros this Saturday at the Henry Aldridge & Son auction house. . This is a record for an object linked to the famous liner, which sank in the Atlantic Ocean more than a century ago. The sum was paid by an American buyer and shattered estimates, between 116,000 and 175,000 euros.
The 14-karat gold Waltham pocket watch, engraved with the initials JJA, was on the wealthy businessman when his body was found after the shipwreck on April 22, 1912. “The watch was completely restored after being returned to the family” by John Jacob Astor and “worn by her son, making it a unique piece of Titanic history and one of the most important pieces in the history of watchmaking relating to the most famous ship in the world”underlined the auction house.