If you are switching Aircraft AND base, then the first conversions of the posted AE must be after your 12 month anniversary. Normally the first conversions will be the first bid period after the AE is posted. So if you are hired Oct 4 2022, and a bid next year closes where conversions begin Oct 1 2023, you will not be eligible to break your seat lock, you will have to wait until the next AE. And once you get an award most AE's have 9 months to actually train and convert you, so theoretically under a worst case scenario you could just miss an AE at 11 months, have to wait until say 15 months to bid, and end up converting where you want to go at 24 months. There is no real way to control or predict any of those variables.

Having said all that, the company can, at it's own discretion, give a new award to a seat-locked pilot. It's not super common, and really dependent on where the company is hurting the most staffing-wise, but even if you are under a seat lock you can submit a bid for whatever you want and cross your fingers that the company awards it. A seat lock does not prevent you from bidding, it just means the company doesn't have to honor your bid.