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Isidor and Ida Straus are remembered as two of the most prominent victims of the Titanic disaster, and among the few first-class passengers who perished, CNN reports.

The couple, portrayed in James Cameron’s 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanic, were offered seats on one of the lifeboats but refused to be separated.

Isidor, co-owner of the New York department store Macy’s, was later recovered, while his wife’s body was never found. Now, more than a century after the world’s most famous maritime tragedy, the gold pocket watch Isidor was wearing at the time has sold at auction for a record-breaking sum.

The Strauses were returning home from their native Germany to the United States when the luxury ocean liner struck an iceberg and sank.

At an auction in England, the historic timepiece fetched £1.78 million ($2.34 million), becoming the most valuable piece of Titanic memorabilia ever sold.

The previous record was held by another gold watch — belonging to John Jacob Astor IV, the richest passenger on the Titanic, which sold for £1.175 million ($1.485 million) in April 2024.

Isidor’s watch was recovered from his body and returned to the couple’s son, Jesse. Ida is memorialized on her husband’s grave at New York’s Woodlawn Cemetery.

The watch is engraved with Isidor’s initials and the date February 6, 1888 — his 43rd birthday and the year he and his brother Nathan became full partners at Macy’s.

Auction house Henry Aldridge & Son, which handled the sale, described the watch as “one of the most important and iconic Titanic items ever offered for sale.” The timepiece had been passed down through the family for generations before coming to auction.

In the 1997 film, the Strauses, played by Lew Palter and Elsa Raven, are depicted embracing on a bed as the ship sinks. In reality, survivors last saw the couple standing together on deck, holding hands, before they were swept overboard by a wave.

The pair had been directed to lifeboat number 8, but Isidor refused to board while younger men, barred from entry, were left behind, according to documents from the UK National Archives. His wife then also refused, reportedly saying: “Where you go, I go.”

This is the story of their enduring love, which ended together on the Titanic — and now, a reminder of it has sold for a record price.

Photo: Phil Yeomans/Shutterstock

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