Pocket watch belonging to couple who died together on the Titanic sells for $2.3 million

Even as the Titanic slipped beneath the icy North Atlantic, one story of devotion survived the disaster — and now it has made history at auction.

A gold pocket watch that once ticked on the wrist of first-class passenger Isidor Straus, who drowned alongside his wife Ida, has sold for a record-breaking £1.78 million ($2.32 million). It is the highest price ever paid for Titanic memorabilia, auctioneers said.

The 18-carat Jules Jurgensen watch, engraved and given to Straus for his 43rd birthday in 1888 — the same year he became a partner in New York’s iconic department store Macy’s — was recovered from his body after the ship sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912 .

The couple, played by Lew Palter and Elsa Raven in James Cameron’s 1997 film "Titanic," refused to separate in their