Steel and coal from the Titanichave been transformed into a new line of luxury wristwatches.
Geneva watchmaker Romain Jerome billed its "Titanic-DNA" collection as among the most exclusive pieces showcased this week at Baselworld, the watch and jewellery industry's largest annual trade fair.
The company claims to capture the essence of the legendary oceanliner which sank in 1912 in the watches. "It is very luxurious and very inaccessible," said Yvan Arpa, chief executive of Romain Jerome.
The North Atlantic wrecksite of the Titanic, which hit an iceberg and sank on its first voyage from the English port of Southampton to New York, have been protected for more than a decade, but many relics were taken in early diving expeditions.
Romain Jerome said it purchased a piece of the hull weighing about 1.5 kilograms that was retrieved in 1991,but declined to identify the seller. The metal has been certified as authentic by the Titanic's builders Harland and Wolff.
To make the watches, which were offered for sale for the first time in Basel for between $7,800 and $173,100, the Swiss company created an alloy using the slab from the Titanic with steel being used in a Harland and Wolff replica of the vessel.
The company intends to make 2,012 watches to coincide with the centenary anniversary of the Titanic's sinking in 2012.