November 14, 2025 09:53 AM IST
First published on: Nov 14, 2025 at 09:53 AM IST
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Straus’ body was recovered days after the disaster, and the watch, engraved with his initials, was among the possessions returned to his family. (Wikimedia Commons Photo/ Representational)
A gold pocket-watch recovered from one of the wealthiest passengers aboard the Titanic is expected to sell for about $1.3 million when it goes to auction later this month, according to the auction house handling the sale. BBC reported that the 18-carat Jules Jurgensen pocket watch belonged to Isidor Straus, the American businessman and co-owner of Macy’s department store who perished with his wife Ida when the liner sank on 14 April 1912.
Straus’ body was recovered days after the disaster, and the watch, engraved with his initials, was among the possessions returned to his family. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge of Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire told BBC Radio Wiltshire that the piece is “a phenomenal” artefact and a way of retelling Isidor’s story.
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Straus and his wife Ida became widely known through their depiction in James Cameron’s movie ‘Titanic’, with the elderly couple shown embracing as the ship goes down. According to accounts cited by BBC, Ida refused a place in a lifeboat, telling her husband she would not leave him. Her body was never recovered.
The watch is said to have stopped at 02:20 – the moment the Titanic disappeared beneath the Atlantic. It is believed to have been a gift from Ida in 1888 and has since been passed down through generations of the family.
Isidor’s great-grandson later had it restored.
Letter from Ida Straus also on sale
The sale will also include a rare letter Ida wrote aboard the Titanic describing the ship’s “magnificently appointed” interiors. The letter, postmarked on board before being taken off with other mail at Queenstown, Ireland, is expected to fetch about $197k.
Henry Aldridge & Son said it has already received substantial interest from collectors worldwide. A spokesperson told the BBC that the Strauses’ “ultimate love story” and Isidor’s rise “from humble immigrant to a titan of the New York establishment” continue to resonate more than a century later.
The auction house added that objects like these keep the human stories of the 1912 disaster alive: “Every man, woman and child had a story to tell and those stories now are retold through these objects.”
Last year, a gold pocket watch presented to the captain of the Carpathia, the ship that rescued more than 700 survivors, sold for a record-breaking $2.05 million.
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Straus’ body was recovered days after the disaster, and the watch, engraved with his initials, was among the possessions returned to his family. (Wikimedia Commons Photo/ Representational) 
