>>18527955
Yes, the movement is complicated, however I am well acquainted with an owner who has had one from purchase at the AD, and it's been flawless for years. He uses it at the track daily, so he probably uses the chronograph function as much as I use mine. He loves it, and though the design line isn't to my liking (the dial is unbalanced), I really do love the engineering of it, and it's nice to see it zip around. If you bought one grey market, just get it serviced from Zenith and then wear-and-enjoy. There is no maintenance other than the normal 'service it every 7-10 years'. What else do you need to do?

Admittedly, I am not fearful of the 'hard to maintain and expensive to repair' concern. There's not much I can do to a watch to break it. Watches are luxury items; if you want something that won't break, a digital Casio will be just fine. The more complicated a watch is, the more that can go wrong if it wasn't properly serviced by the last technician, and furthermore, the more complicated a watch is, the higher the possibility that something is broken or damaged DURING disassembly/reassembly and servicing. Therefore, the way I see it is that a complicated watch comes with complicated ownership; it's part of the package. That's why you take your watch to the manufacturer or a watchmaker you trust.

Online you can find vids from Lange owners (for instance) who have had trouble with the service that Lange provides...that's awful to hear, but reminds us that these are expensive wind-up toys and not much else. Sure, they are aesthetically remarkable, but they're still wind-up toys that need care and attention when they are taken apart.

I wouldn't take my Grail to just any watchmaker - they'd have to have a known history of servicing that movement. If my Citizen needed servicing, I'd send it to Japan. Anyone could service the ETA or Valjoux based movements, but there is only one man I trust with my vintage 321. All watches require care.