In One Ear: Hans Givard’s watch

Published 10:59 pm Thursday, April 24, 2025

Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd. in Devizes, England, has yet another iconic RMS Titanic relic going on the block on Saturday. 

The item is a “partly gilt silver and brass open-face pin-set pocket watch, white enamel dial with Roman numerals and outer Arabic numerals, case decorated with turtle doves,” owned by Danish second-class passenger Hans Christensen Givard. It’s expected to fetch between $40,000 and $66,000.

Givard, 27, and two friends, a farmworker and a blacksmith, all lost their lives when the ship sank on April 15, 2012. His body was recovered from the North Atlantic, and he is buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

When his body was retrieved, he was described as having “very fair hair and (a) moustache,” and was wearing a “dark brown striped suit, black overcoat, white shirt labeled D.M., no socks, a white shoe and pink underpants.” 

Among the things found in his pockets, along with the watch, were a savings book, keys, some cash, a compass and a passport. Everything found on him was returned to his brother, Hans Christian Christensen Givard in Denmark. His descendants have consigned the watch for auction. 

A sad afterthought from the Encyclopedia Titanica: “His family did not know he was on the Titanic; he could not bear to say farewell to his mother again, so he left without saying good-bye.” (Photos: Henry Aldrdige & Son Ltd.)

Marketplace