Hitler's watch sells at Maryland auction for $1.1 million

Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City had estimated the value between $2 and $4 million, describing the watch as a “World War II relic of historic proportions.”

A Maryland auction house has sold a wristwatch that once belonged to Adolf Hitler for $1.1 million.

King Victor Emanuel III, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini watch fascist troops march in central Rome in 1941 television file footage. Image via REUTERS

Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City had estimated the value between $2 and $4 million, describing the watch as a “World War II relic of historic proportions.”

News outlets report that Jewish leaders and others objected to the sale this week, saying it had little to no historical value.

The auction house's president, Bill Panagopulos, defended the auction and said the buyer is a European Jew.

The watch features the initials AH and a swastika. The auction house said a French soldier who was in the first unit to close in on Hitler in May 1945 at his Berchtesgaden retreat seized it as spoils of war.