Titanic passenger Isidor Straus's pocket watch sells for $2.3 million

Even as the Titanic slipped beneath the icy North Atlantic, one story of devotion survived the disaster — and now it has made history at auction

Even as the Titanic slipped beneath the icy North Atlantic, one story of devotion survived the disaster — and now it has made history at auction.

A gold pocket watch that once ticked for first-class passenger Isidor Straus, who drowned alongside his wife Ida, has sold for a record-breaking £1.78 million ($2.32 million). It is the highest price ever paid for Titanic memorabilia, auctioneers said.

The 18-carat Jules Jurgensen watch, engraved and given to Straus for his 43rd birthday in 1888 — the same year he became a partner in New York’s iconic department store Macy’s — was recovered from his body after the ship sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912.

The couple, played by Lew Palter and Elsa Raven in James Cameron’s 1997 film “Titanic,” refused to separate in their final moments and were last seen by witnesses arm in arm on the deck of the sinking ship.

The intricate detailing on Isidor Straus' watch, recovered from his body after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.Handout / Henry Aldridge & Son AuctioneersStraus had been offered a seat on a lifeboat due to his age, but he insisted that other men go first. Ida Straus refused to leave his side. They were among the very few first-class passengers to perish in the disaster that claimed 1,500 lives.