The timepiece, along with his £55 million estate (£7 billion today), was left to his 20-year-old son, Vincent.
It is not known what condition the watch was in at the time but it would have stopped working at 2.20am – the moment the Titanic and Astor disappeared into the Atlantic.
Vincent Astor later had the watch restored and repaired and wore it until 1935, when he gifted it to his godson, William Dobbyn. Dobbyn’s father, also William, had been Astor’s executive secretary and was also close to Vincent.
Cufflinks and plan of first-class accommodation also up for sale
The newly married Astor and Madeleine boarded Titanic at Cherbourg on April 10, 1912, to return to America but Dobbyn stayed behind in France, a move that saved his life.
The gold watch was acquired from the Dobbyn family by a private collector of Titanic memorabilia in the 1990s. It is now being sold at specialist Titanic auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers of Devizes, Wiltshire. It is tipped to sell for between £100,000 and £150,000.
Along with the watch there is a pair of gold cufflinks owned by Astor and his plan of first-class accommodation on Titanic.
The foldable 30 inches by 40 inches document, used by William Dobbyn in Paris to plan the Astors’ trip and confirm the staterooms they were in, is valued at £30,000.