Do we agree that the seller knows? Seems too carefully worded....and not responding to requests.
The parts do have value in and of themselves, though I’m not sure it’s £17K worth.
Given the other pieces in the seller’s inventory…possibly. That said, to spot the features that indicate the watch was not an original AS requires specific knowledge that the average person would not possess. At the very least, the seller likely understood the series engraving was not present and therefore the watch’s value was much less than an example with it.