A gold pocket watch that was recovered from the body of the richest man on the Titanic has sold for a record-breaking £1.175 million.

The watch was sold on Saturday to a private collector in the US at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, for the highest amount ever for Titanic memorabilia, the auctioneers said.

The original owner of the watch, businessman John Jacob Astor, 47, went down with the ship in 1912 after seeing new wife Madeleine onto a lifeboat.

The previous highest amount paid for Titanic artefacts was £1.1 million for a violin that was played as the ship sank – which sold at the same auction house in 2013, according to the auctioneers.

The case for the violin was sold at the same auction as the pocket watch at Henry Aldridge & Son on Saturday for £360,000.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge told the PA news agency that the prices fetched by the Titanic memorabilia at the sale were “absolutely incredible”.

He said: “They reflect not only the importance of the artefacts themselves and their rarity but they also show the enduring appeal and fascination with the Titanic story.

“112 years later, we are still talking about the ship and the passengers and the crew.

“The thing with the Titanic story, it’s effectively a large ship hits an iceberg with a tragic loss of life, but more importantly is 2,200 stories.