A gold pocket watch, salvaged from an elderly couple who tragically lost their lives during the Titanic disaster, has sold for a record-breaking £1.78m at auction. This is the highest sum ever paid for Titanic items, according to the auction house.

The previous record was set just last year when another gold pocket watch, given to the captain of a rescue boat that saved over 700 passengers from the ill-fated liner, sold for £1.56m.

The 18-carat Jules Jurgensen engraved watch belonged to first class passenger Isidor Straus, who drowned when the ship sank in April 1912, claiming 1,500 lives.

Straus and his wife Ida were immortalised in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic film as the couple embracing each other as the Titanic meets its end.

The watch was retrieved from Mr Straus' b

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