Duplicate serial number ?

[spoilsofwar01]

I recently was inquiring about a 1940's Rolex Oyster and doing my research prior to anything else, using the watch serial number given I contacted Rolex as the inside of the back of the case has various service watch makers marks, Rolex advised that they had seen a watch with that number, however it wasn't the same as the one they saw wasn't Stainless Steel and it was a different model...... I'm walking away from the one on offer and hope that them that are considering on bidding on it have the sense to check out the serial number first, I did ask what the likely hood of it being a duplicate number... very unlikely was the response............ forewarned is forearmed.