what happens with my apple watch series 9 if it breaks after the import ban

It gets repaired or replaced under warranty.

The ban ONLY affects the import for sale of Series 9 and Ultra II Apple Watches.

You are not buying a new Apple Watch, just having it repaired.

Bob, with what authority do you say that? Are you an Apple employee and heard that from the top or is that your interpretation of the news? I read an article about the ripple effect of the ban, one point being not repairing or servicing out of warranty watches

If it does, Apple will refuse to repair it. But if you get a case w/ a screen protector, you should be fine. I use a Misxi 2 Pack Hard PC Case with Tempered Glass Screen Protector (45 MM) for my Series 9 which you can find on Amazon.

You can also use alternative repair places as they might still have a Series 9 45mm/41mm screen and it also makes the repair way cheaper.

I'll be completely honest. This whole thing has made me lose trust in my Apple Watch Ultra 2. I doubt I can get a refund at this point, but I'll sell it off for a Garmin. I'd be highly upset if something happens and I get hit with "Sorry, we can't help you" message. This is early on in the ban. No telling where this might end up.

But having a third-party repair the Apple Watch after you have purchased AppleCare would void your warranty, right?

I mean even if they were at a point after all of the fallout were able to repair the watch their response would be sorry you allowed a third-party to touch it.

I fully understand that because that’s exactly what happened with my eye 14 pro. During covid when I received it it was not at all satisfactory. In fact it was awful & at every turn they were trying to tweak my settings which made looking at my screen nearly unbearable. Good luck.

If it's just the battery, they'll replace it. Otherwise, they'll replace your watch with one without the blood oxygen monitor. I have one that is still under the warranty it came with and it randomly won't start. Both in-store and over the phone tech support said they do what is "easiest" - they verbatim told me the exact same thing. Honolulu Apple store said they would refund me, but they just took my watch 9 days ago and haven't updated the status. Might be worth trying a store though.