Historic Titanic watch owned by Suffolk-born man could fetch £80,000 at auction
Pocket watch recovered from businessman after the 1912 sinking shows damage and a frozen second hand
Last updated 4 hours ago
A watch recovered from the body of a wealthy businessman who drowned in the Titanic sinking is expected to fetch up to £80,000 at auction.
Frederick Sutton, 61, was a first-class passenger on the ill-fated liner, which sank in April 1912, costing 1,500 lives.
The businessman was born in Suffolk and settled with his family in New Jersey and became wealthy from property.
He had travelled to England in March 1912 for health reasons and was returning to the US on the Titanic when he died.
Mr Sutton’s body was buried at sea, and his effects were placed in a white camp bag bearing the number 46 and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the MacKay Bennett ship.
His personal effects were collected by his family and have remained with his descendants ever since.
The first part of the collection was sold at auction last year, and the second part is now offered for sale.
The watch, which will go under the hammer at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, on April 18 is estimated to sell for between £50,000 and £80,000.
The 18-carat gold case pocket watch is heavily dented, with the face bearing the scars of the trauma of the sinking.
The hour and minute hands are missing but the second hand is present, frozen in time by the cold North Atlantic water.
The original Albert watch chain accompanies the piece, having never been parted.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: “The significance of this watch is the fact that it was onboard the Titanic and, most importantly, the seconds hand is frozen in time at the point that its owner Frederick Sutton went into the cold North Atlantic water 114 years ago.
“Watches from Titanic passengers are especially prized by collectors and historians and the fact that was onboard the Titanic elevates it to a different level.”