Finally got a reply and printing it below with no comment from me.
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Dear philsan1a,

Hello, sorry I haven't got back to you. First of all, I can assure you it was never my intention to deceive anyone with this watch. As you can see, we deal in a very eclectic variety of items; watches account for a very small number of our weekly listings. I will be the first to admit, I am not an expert in Ball watches. After you and everyone in your group has pointed out the issues with this watch, I can see what it is and isn't. You have to understand how it would be easy for somebody like me to make a mistake like this. Believe me, there are just as many people offering BINs and asking me NOT to end the auction early than people asking me to end it. I can assure you the winning bidder will be informed of the issues mentioned on the discussion board. I should have ended it earlier given the fact it has been bid so high. According to eBay, I will be penalized for ending the listing early at this point, but not if I see it through and mutually cancel the transaction once the winning bidder has been informed of the issues. When I first received a message questioning the watch, I thought it was just somebody trying to bash it . I legitimately purchased the watch from an old collection - he had owned it for over 20 years and prized it. I paid good money, but it is what it is. Thanks again for informing me, as you can see, I take eBay seriously and would hate to wreck my reputation.

- justdiscovered

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I just received the exact same response
Seems like Little to late

Randy

I've just had a look at that auction and at the top of the page is a message I've not seen before:
"This listing was ended by the seller because the item was sold."

Anybody any ideas what this means? Does it mean it was sold outside of the bay?

David

Some sellers actually put in the listing that the item is also for sale elsewhere and reserve the option to close the auction should they sell it outside eBay.

Nothing is binding though and any auction can be closed at any time. It may be that the seller has genuinely broken or lost the item or just doesn't want to continue with the sale.

For whatever reason you can close an auction at any time and just tick an appropriate box to give a reason. You can even not complete the sale after the auction is finished. Just state that the item has been lost or broken and you're unable to complete the transaction.

It doesn't have to be true and eBay have no way of forcing you to continue an auction. I think that ticking a box allows you to close without any financial obligation to ebay.

It could be that the seller has seen the error of his ways and doesn't want any more hassle. So the members who have contacted him have probably won the day.

I say well done to you.

Mike

You can close the auction up to 12 hours before it ends. After that you cannot close it. You have to let it run to the end, and then you can say it is broken, lost, or whatever, but there is no way that eBay will let you close it when there is less than 12 hours left on that particular auction item.

Regards,
Larry

I am the person who bought this Fake Ball Watch Hamilton 992B. Justin from "justdiscovered" called me three times to say that this watch is a fake. and returned my money today. To me he is an honest guy and probably did not know it was fake. However I did not know the full details and want to say thank you to all the members of this forum who spotted this fake and told us of this problem. I was out of town for two days and did not have access to our forum.
Best wishes to all the guys for their comments,

Michael C. Bussacco

It's always nice to see something like this come to a happy ending!It's also nice to be a member of such a great group as this, who jumped in ,and did the right thing to keep this one from surfacing again some time down the line.I'm happy that Mike got a refund, that would have been an awful expensive hit to take.The other sad thing is,a nice 999B, and a 992B got cannibalized to build this fake in the first place!I hate seeing railroad watches get wasted this way, you see them parted out all the time on auctions, makes me sick!

A great ending to such a sad beginning!

Roger

This is unbelievable! Welcome Justin!

William

I agree, what a wonderful and happy ending to what began as a very sad story.

This is a proud occasion for IHC Members!

Don

Not only did such a watch get pulled from circulation to be retired, but we gained a new, honest member and seller. A win-win on a GRAND scale.

Congratulations to all involved, and welcome Justin!

HIGH regards! Mark

So gratifying to see such consideration for members and the public demonstrating courtesy, diplomacy and perseverance. A stellar display of the right stuff by all.

Rick

Congratulations to all involved in this situation. A wonderful resolution to tough problem. Welcome Justin, hopefully we will meet sometime.

Welcome aboard, Justin. We are proud to have you as a member of our community.

You are surrounded by a group of friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and honest people.

Welcome aboard Justin!

Thank you for helping take care of a very complex situation and making it easy for us to do the right thing. It all had to start with you, and you are to be commended for what you have helped this great horology club do, and that is to make this watch all correct again!!

We are all proud to have you as a member of this great club!

You will find everyone here friendly and helpful, so if you ever have any questions, please feel free to ask away, and you will get the answer from all of the friendly knowledgeable people here.

Best Regards,
Larry

What a fantastic ending! I am so proud to be a member of this group. You guys are the BEST!

Thanks Everyone for the warm welcome, it was nice speaking with Lindell and others on the phone yesterday. I look forward to using this site as a tool for research and information. If I would have joined it earlier, I could have avoided getting caught up with a watch like this one altogether! Thanks again and Kind Regards to everyone.

Well done Justin...that's what I call integrity
Welcome and thank you

Best regards
Randy

Welcome Justin !

Justin, I am sure that Lin explained to you that we have a watch market and auction here and it does not skim 15% of your sale price either.

Welcome Justin and a hearty well done for how you handled a difficult and challenging set of curcumstances.

And, just to add a late note to this topic, I'll also welcome Justin to the group and say that I have bought 3 watches from Justin in the past. All great watches with no problems on the transactions so it's good to see how this turned out.

Hi Justin,

I would think with a honest person like you having a 100% positive feedback that this just goes to show your honesty and does nothing but push your high rating up the chart.

Welcome aboard and glad to have you as a fellow member.

Best Regards
Tim

Hi Justin,

I do quite a bit of business on Ebay for both pocket watches and wrist watches. I echo David's sentiments on listing items here on the club's website. But FYI, I also just added you to my "Favorite Sellers" list on Ebay.

Regards,

Mike

PS, you can be very comfortable knowing that Larry will be doing the conversion. He's as good as they get regarding pocket watch refurbishment!