The 14-carat gold Waltham timepiece once owned by business magnate John Jacob Astor IV is up for auction this weekend at Henry Aldridge & Son in Britain. CorinMesser/BNPS/MEGA The starting bid for the haunting piece is £60,000, or roughly $75,000. Astor was last seen smoking a cigarette with author Jacques Futrelle, who also died in the tragedy.