The tag line is "Built in Detroit", not "Detroit Made" or "Made in Detroit"
You are correct. It is a small but important difference.
Shinola make no bones about the fact that they they source their parts from China and Switzerland.
They don't lie about it, but they certainly aren't forthcoming about it either when it comes to China. We all know what their goal is, and that's to market to the consumer that this is a watch made in the US. The back of the Runwell says "Built in Detroit" and "USA movement made with Swiss parts" and for the band description says "American-manufactured leather". Here is what it says for the Runwell movement on Shinola's site.
Shinola Detroit-built Argonite 1069.2 quartz movement, hand-assembled from 46 Swiss and other imported components.
They clearly cover China under "other imported parts", but they certainly mentioned Switzerland because they make the average watch buyer feel positive about the association, and then the Detroit/USA stuff of course to appeal to the "made in the USA" emotion. Again, this isn't a dumb move by them, of course you don't want to mention you get parts from China in a watch. Numerous watch companies do this. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but you can't pretend your average watch buyer would know that, because it's not mentioned anywhere. Again, lots of watch companies do this, Shinola isn't the first.
Shinola is a fashion watch company currently. There's nothing wrong with that. In the case of quality for price, a $20 movement and a sapphire crystal isn't worth $550-$800. By all means people can love what they want. Personally I think Shinola makes some jaw dropping beautiful pieces though, and there is a model I've handled a few times and almost bought.
We have a Shinola shop here in Minneapolis, and full disclosure, I am planning on buying one. But I know what I'm buying. I am buying it for that US/Detroit support, I am buying it simply because it just looks amazing, and because it seems like a good company to work for. I was only really responding originally to the "skilled labor" part of your comment, and the fact that Shinola is rally banking on that USA/Detroit emotional buy. Surveys show there's a lot of people out there who will pay more for a US made item, and even surveys that say Detroit even pulls some more weight if something is made there and clearly labeled.
This is the reason I want a Shinola. It's gorgeous.
http://www.shinola.com/shop/therunwell41-leather-band-watch-s01110.html