Crucial piece of Titanic history could fetch £150,000 at auction

A watch that was recovered from the body of the richest man on the Titanic could fetch hundreds of thousands at auction.

Businessman John Jacob Astor, 47, went down with the ship in 1912 after seeing new wife Madeleine onto a lifeboat.

Impeccably dressed Astor, who was a prominent member of the wealthy Astor family, was last seen smoking a cigarette and chatting with a fellow passenger.

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His body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean seven days later and his exquisite 14-carat gold Waltham pocket watch, engraved JJA, was found.

The watch is tipped to fetch between £100,000 and £150,000 when it goes under the hammer at auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, on Saturday.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "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 87 million US dollars equivalent to several billion dollars today.

"At 11.40pm on April 14 1912 the Titanic hit an iceberg and started to take on water. At first, Astor did not believe the ship was in any serious danger but later it was apparent she was sinking and the captain had started an evacuation after midnight, so he helped his wife into lifeboat 4."

Mrs Astor survived, and her husband's body was recovered on April 22 not far from the sinking.

The watch was passed by Mr Astor's son Vincent to the son of his father's executive secretary, William Dobbyn.

Mr Aldridge said: "The watch itself was completely restored after being returned to Mr Astor's family and worn by his son, making it a unique part of the Titanic story and one of the most important pieces of horological history relating to the most famous ship in the world."