Assumptions on a vanishing listing?

So I have given up on a vanishing listing and wanted to get your thoughts on what happened. I saw a piece on C24 that caught my eye, a Franck Muller MR on sale from a private seller based in NY. It is definitely not a sought after piece but this specific example was period specific and 1 of 5 made. It had been sitting on sale for a while. Originally it retailed around $300. It was listed at 75. The old saying of “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is” immediately screamed at me. However this is a very niche piece with a very small market of potential buyers so I assume the seller wanted to unload it and had a hard time unloading it so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

It was listed as “reserved” for several days. So I messaged the seller and asked if still available, within a few hours I got message saying “yes, it is.” I then replied and said it i would give it some serious thought and get back to him. Within four hours the seller messaged me with “Is there any info i can provide? I am also open to price suggestions.” I asked a few technical questions about the movement, availability of documentation and service history. Within an hour the listing is taken down and no more communication from seller.

I assume either the seller thought maybe given finally a potential buyer, he was priced inappropriately. Or maybe the piece was not legit (ie stolen) and he knew if it ended up in some places, he could be exposed. If so, would be very easy to track down as this was #1 of 5 and should I inform anyone? Are these correct assumptions? Anything I could be missing? I have gotten over the watch, it wasn’t a grail or anything but after a weeks worth of thinking it over, I became really attached to it lol.

Just forget it. You are putting too much thought into it.

Although I understand It is a "niche" piece and very rare I would personally fuggedaboutid (Donnied Brasco anyone?) 😎

300k. Minute repeater. At 300 I’ll stick to shopping for another beloved Seiko 😀