The problem that you describe--misalignment of the hour and minute hands--would be fixed in the way you'd describe--the watch movement would be removed from the case, and the hands would be removed from their pinions and placed down more accurately. This is a relatively minor repair if you have the right tools, but it's not something I recommend for the average DIY person.
The first challenge is removing the watch movement from the case. Some movements drop out easily, but others are kept in place by the crown and setting stem. These must be removed in a way that they can be re-inserted. Simply pulling them out by brute force usually damages the internal set lever; different movements have different mechanisms for releasing the stem.
The second challenge is removing the hands. Attempting to "slide" the hands on their pinions runs a high risk of damaging the pinions by making one or both of them oval instead of round. Very little force is applied to the pinions, so even a slight distortion can mean that your watch will start to hang up at odd times when friction is stronger than the force being put out by the watch movement. Even worse, it's possible to break one of these little parts--they're very strong, but they're also very brittle. A tool called, naturally enough, a "hand remover" is used to pull the hands straight up off their gears; they're then pushed back into their correct place.
For a qualified watchmaker or watch repair technician, this is a simple and inexpensive repair that should take them only a few minutes once they get around to actually paying attention to your watch. Given the high risk of damage to your watch if you haven't done this before and if you don't have a hand removal tool, I would suggest that you outsource this repair instead of attempting it yourself. I have ruined more than a few watches in the course of practicing this repair; it doesn't take much force to damage these delicate parts!
Testimonial: "Thanks for the advice and "warnings" cjstuff. I suspected that was the case (e.g. take it to a qualified watch repair shop), but wanted to be sure."
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Thank for the advice and "warnings" cjstuff. I suspected that was the case (e.g. take it to a reputable watch repair shop), but wanted to be sure before doing so.
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