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It's all well and good to say that the buyer has responsibility to check authenticity or that it's ok as long as the seller doesn't explicitly lie. But the fact is that high end buyers bid in these high end auctions precisely because they believe that the auction houses have world-class experts on staff who have verified the watches. In fact, in the past I've seen many people using the fact that a watch was sold in one of these auctions as a de facto authentication.
Very few people (if any) have the data and knowledge to do the type of research that Jose does, and it's incredibly easy for high-end dealers/collectors/auctioneers to deliberately tamper with watches and cover up their actions. They deserve to be called out and criticized for deceptive behavior, including lying by omission. I talk with collectors all the time who are aware of bad behavior all over the vintage watch "industry" and this information is often passed around quietly between collectors. Few people are willing to talk publicly about it and name names.
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