Of all the first-class finery recovered from the Titanic, one piece now reigns supreme.

A gold pocket watch belonging to one of the wealthiest passengers on the ill-fated ocean liner sold for a record £1.78 million (approximately $2.3 million) at a Henry Aldridge & Son auction in the U.K. on Saturday, becoming the most expensive piece of Titanic-related memorabilia in history, according to the auction house.

The Jules Jurgensen timepiece was recovered from the body of Isidor Straus. The Bavaria-born American businessman, politician, and co-owner of Macy’s, and his wife, Ida, were among the more than 1,500 people who died when the 883-foot ship struck an iceberg and sank on April 14, 1912. 

The couple’s last moments have been widely documented—they were even depicted in James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic—as both reportedly refused lifeboats in order to stay together. Ida was invited to board the other women and children, but declined because she wanted to stay with her husband. Sometime thereafter, Isidor was offered a place due to his age, but would not take the spot from the women or children. The couple was last seen in each other’s arms on the deck of the ship as it succumbed to the frigid North Atlantic waters, according to the Office of the Historian.

Isa’s body was never found, but Isidor’s body was recovered from the Atlantic days after the catastrophe. Among his possessions was this very watch. It is believed to have been a birthday gift from Ida to her husband in 1888. The 18-karat gold case is engraved with Isidor’s initials and the date of his 43rd birthday. The hands are still positioned at 2:20 a.m.—the exact moment the Titanic disappeared underwater. After it was recovered, the watch was returned to the Straus family. It was handed down through generations, eventually winding up with Isidor’s great-grandson, Kenneth Hollister Straus, who decided to restore it. 

The watch was expected to sell for over £1 million, but hammered down for almost double that. It now ranks as the priciest Titanic collectible, surpassing an 18-karat-gold Tiffany & Co. pocket watch that achieved £1.56 million (roughly $2 million) at a Henry Aldridge & Son auction in November 2024. That piece, which was gifted to the captain of the RMS Carpathia for saving the lives of nearly 700 passengers from the shipwreck, was purchased by Tiffany itself. The auction house did not say who bought Isidor’s watch, but they certainly scored a beauty.

“The world record price illustrates the enduring interest in the Titanic story; every man, woman, and child passenger or crew had a story to tell, and they are told 113 years later through the memorabilia,” the auction house’s managing director, Andrew Aldridge, told Robb Report via email. “The Strauses were the ultimate love story, Ida refusing to leave her husband of 41 years as the Titanic sank, and this world record price is testament to the respect that they are held in.”