Dear Alex,
Thank you for this very interesting question. Actually it's not just Citizen but Seiko, Alba, Casio and Orient are also subject to labeling laws as to the country of origin.
I think how strict the labeling laws depends on the countries where the watches are marketed to. Japan and USA are quite strict on labeling laws and thus print the watch's country of assembly. If more than two countries are involved in manufacturing the watch, both nations are indicated on the watch. So you can have a Citizen watch that has its components sourced from Japan but the final assembly of the watch done in China.
This practice is not new to Seiko, for example. Watches that are meant for the US export market but have components and the final assembly process involving three different nations are required by law to have the countries labeled on the dial. For instance, a 7002-7001 Seiko diver marketed specially to the USA will have this text on the dial: "Mov't Singapore, Dial Japan, Cased Hong Kong".
Other nations like Southeast Asian countries are not strict with labeling laws and watches exported to such countries need not have the exact country-of-origin printed on the dial or caseback. Sometimes the manufacturer feels that if their watches have "Made in China" printed on the dials will lower their products' status. This is why Seiko watches that are assembled in China do not have "China" on the dial or caseback - just nothing at all.
Timex watches are made in the Philippines. I used to own a Timex analog-digital and the local distributor placed a sticker saying "TIMEX USA" over the "Made in the Philippines" text. While Timex is a US watch company, it no longer makes watches in America due to the high production costs in the USA.
I should think the same goes with Citizen watches. The lower priced ones are made in China but it the market doesn't require such strict labeling, Citizen will just print "Made in China" on the caseback or just "Movement Japan".
hope this helps,
Quartzimodo
вот пришел ответ от эксперта по японцам ... относительно маркировки часов... так что если часы не промаркированы страна сборки может быть как и Япония так и Китай... маркировка часов связана с законодательными актами страны, где продаются часы
В принципе данная мысль уже мелкала тут на форуме
( kidloko, milord в курсе )...
Вывод, носить часы и получать позитив