Gold watch belonging to Titanic’s richest passenger sells for 1,175,000 | UK News [Video]

A gold pocket watch which was recovered from the body of the Titanic’s richest passenger has sold for a record-breaking sum at auction.

John Jacob Astor died when the Titanic sank in 1912, after ensuring his wife Madeleine got onto a lifeboat safely.

He went down with the ship and was last seen smoking a cigarette and smoking with a fellow passenger before his death.

Mr Astor’s body was recovered from the Atlantic a week later, and his 14-carat gold Waltham pocket watch, engraved with his initials, was also found.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge explained: ‘Astor is well known as the richest passenger aboard the RMS Titanic and was thought to be among the richest people in the world at that time, with a net worth of roughly $87million – equivalent to several billion dollars today.

‘At 11.40pm on April 14, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg and started to take …