Understanding 「鈴木さんは見た目より若く見えますね。」

Question

The sentence

鈴木さんは見た目より若く見えますね。

apparently translates to

Mr. Suzuki's not as old as he looks.

However, if we break this sentence down a bit:

• 見た目: appearance
• 若く見えます: appears-youngly (or more idiomatically: "seems young")

...it seems to me this sentence is literally comparing an appearance with an appearance. Something like:

As for Suzuki, he appears younger than his appearance.

But what we actually want to do is compare an appearance with an age, right? Something like:

As for Suzuki, he is younger than his appearance.

Question: Can "若く見えます" mean "is young", in addition to just "seems/appears young"? If not, how to make sense of this sentence?

Answer 1

As you said, 見た目より若く見えます is somewhat nonsensical because it suggests that someone looks old and young at the same time.(*) I feel like it at least needs some qualifications, like "his physical features may look old when taken individually but his overall impression is not that of a typical old man". (This is just a made up example, other qualifications are possible.) Perhaps the writer might assume the reader knows the unsaid qualifications so they don't see the need to clarify, though.

* ｢見た目より若く見える｣ - これって日本語がおかしい、というか矛盾してますよね？