The concerns are as follows, roughly an hour to two hours before the date change the gears start to engage. They stay engaged afterwards as well. That bit of wisdom regarding the date setting would apply to any movement, genuine or replica. This can be very readily seen in a 7750 movement as they slowly change over the course of an hour and a half. An additional concern is with the replica movements they are not always clean and properly oiled, plus not always are the materials used as durable as a genuine counterpart. The sh 3135 in particular it has some known issues with date change under normal circumstances. Some tend to double change the date has the hands move past midnight, but then setting the date by the crown are fine. Bottom line you might be fine if you change the date but it's better to be safe than sorry. Make sure the hours hand is somewhere between 4 and 8 and you'll be guaranteed that none of the date change mechanism will be engaged. In the unlikely event that you do need a movement repair, customs are usually not an issue shipping between New Zealand and the United States. There's a number of phenomenal watchsmiths here in the US. Welcome and enjoy the site!