Problems servicing Spring Drive movements?

Even here in the United States, with an authorized service center, there is no guarantee that they won't have to ship it to Japan for service:

I was under the impression all GS watches went to Japan for servicing. Don't know where I got that from 🤔

Yeah, I think I read that somewhere too. And the service cost starts at 700.

I wouldn't have a Spring Drive movement serviced ANYWHERE but thru the official GS service center, sorry

Chris, given that you’re right next to Panama. Have you considered coming here and servicing the watch? I know there’s a Grand Seiko service center here.

AFAIK all Grand Seikos purchased in US are first shipped to their regional service center in NJ and from there it's decided based on watch and needs, which watches get shipped direct to Japan for service or repair

It needs to go back to Japan for service

That used to be the case, but is no longer true in all cases (at least for the US, anyway). It depends on the movement and complication, if any. Generally, the more complicated, the more likely it would be need to be serviced in Japan. Otherwise, it’s serviced in the New Jersey Seiko service center for the US. They’ve apparently staffed up for spring drive servicing in NJ in recent years.

I would send it to an official GS service center. When you buy in-house movements with proprietary design and technologies they come with this need. It’s a thing most people doesn’t think or know when buying watches

Indeed it needs to go back to Japan as far as I am told. If you don't have access to any Seiko dealers and you're not comfortable shipping it out of the country then I'm afraid you're going to have to wait until you travel to another country that has a Seiko / GS presence and hopefully a friend that can collect it and hold it for you the next time you visit again because it can take 12 weeks.

Spring Drive and High Beats go to Japan (in almost all cases). The 9F probably never needs a service anyways.

Here in Germany the Seiko dealer will ship it to Grand Seiko Netherlands and from there it will go to Japan (in, again, nearly all cases).

Reach out to grand seiko and see if they can help sort out a courier service for you. This way it's their liability as opposed to yours.

I’d rather have it go to Japan,had a bad experience in Jersey,twice with same watch

When I bought my SBGY007 new, I noticed that the watch could not be wound completely. I reported this to the seller on the same day and then had to wait several months for my watch (even though I had bought a new watch). Apart from the fact that the retailer has really bad customer service, I was negatively impressed by how long it takes for the watches to get to Japan. The delivery time is not a concern as it hardly prolongs the process. The problem is that GS is very busy and it takes ages for the watches to be repaired and tested internally. The Spring Drive movements are so unique that only GS can manufacture and repair them.

That makes sense, I just don’t want to send my watch overseas and wait for months to have it back.

No real shortcuts dealing with a Spring Drive movement Im afraid, the GS service centers are the only ones who fully understand the tech and qualified to mess with them