I purchased a set of gear from the Argus Supply Officer in Chaos Gotham because the gear description said it had a max tuning level of 242. When I attuned the gear, it only leveled to 222, but my cr is 269 and nearly all of my existing gear is 235, so it definitely should have leveled higher. Clearly, the item description on this gear is incorrect, and I lost all the marks I spent on useless pieces. (The level on the rings, neck, etc. says 222, but the "regular" gear says 242.)
I think I fell foul of this same thing. Saw 242 on items and boight ring withoit looking assuming it was the same but it wasnt. If the other gear on vendors description is wrong it would at least explain why it seemed strange to me as well.