I have a few watches and some are Japanese Movement the others are Swiss.
This has bugged me for years. What is the difference?
about $200…
seriously other than the perception of Swiss quality (which in the instance of many high end manufacturers is true) Japanese movements are often very well made, however I am not aware of any Japanese vajoux achieving Certified Chronometer status (a la the movement in certain Rolexes)
After a Japanese movement a cool little device sprays water on you and then drys you off with a stream of air. 
There are four major movement mfgs. in the world 9if you don’t count the Russians, who make some decent stuff). they are:
SWISS: Valjoux and ETA. Alll of the swiss watch mfgs. use these movements (except for Rolex, who make their own). Even very high-end swiss watches use the same movements-they just modify them with extra functions, jewels, etc.
JAPANESE: MIYOTA (Citizen) or Hattori (Seiko): these are excellent quality…I would put the Miyota up against any chronometer movement. The difference-the japanese don’t goin for fancy polishing, gilding, decoration of the movement. I could never understand the mania for finishing watch movements-unless you have a see-through back, you can’t tell the difference.
Japanese movements are 10-30% of the price of a swiss movement.
Thanks, Ralph. Why are Japanese movements so much cheaper? Switzerland is an expensive place but Japan is almost as expensive? Do they outsource the manufacture of Japanese movements to less expensive manufacturing sites in Asia?
The reason the japanese movements are cheaper:
-the dollar-yen exchange rate
-the fact that japanese movements are robotically assembled. The Swiss still use hand assembly, and swiss labor is pretty expensive.
But heck, a quartz movement goes for about $0.95-and it is FAR more accurate than the best mechanical movement!
See Mechanical Watch FAQ V1.0 for some background
With all due respect to ralph124c there’s a lot more to it re the difference in movement cost and quality than exchange rates.
Go here www.timezone.com and post your question.
Seiko has made some certified chronometers but they’re fairly rare.
Considering that the institute that does the certification (COSC) is Swiss, it’s not too surprising that virtually all certified chronometer movements are Swiss.
Also, by “vajoux” I believe you mean ebauche which basically means “raw watch movement”.
“Valjoux” is a Swiss company that makes watch movements. They’re part of the Swatch empire which actually includes a bunch of expensive watch companies such as Omega and Blancpain.
Sure, Valjoux and ETA make the vast majority of the movements but there are other manufacturers besides them and Rolex.
See JLC, Patek, Lemania, some IWC, some Girard Perregaux, Piguet, Zenith.
And don’t forget the Germans Lange and Glashuette Original.