Just want to check this out before I make things worse!

[Waggy]

A friend of mine handed me a watch last night that he is going to gift to his wife for Christmas , but it is running very slow, losing >>5 mins every hour. I took it home last night and after applying a full wind I placed it on my timegrapher in multiple orientations expecting to see a mess, but it was running very sweet, 0.1 ms beat error and rate was only a second or two out per day. I can't recall the figure for the amplitude, but I remember thinking it was respectable at the time. Unfortunately, I had a family drama so couldn't investigate further at the time, so I placed it on my auto winder and tried to deal with the family...! A quick glance this morning at it spinning away on the winder before heading out to work revealed that it was several hours out, thinking about it on my half hour drive to work with the other very courteous and considerate drivers  I had a flash of inspiration, perhaps the dial is off center and causing friction on the hands?

If my theory is correct about the dial, I think I need to bend the feet slightly to re-position the dial to align better with the center of the watch - from what I remember, I should bend the feet in the opposite direction of the tight spot?

Can anyone think of any other reasons or things I should look for, or let me know if they think my explanation for the problem is on the right track and if so my proposed fix is the correct approach/method.

[HectorLooi]

If the timegrapher reading is ok, it could be a loose cannon pinion.

But if the watch is new, your friend should send it back to the shop. The moment you open the case, the warranty is void.

[Waggy]

Its an old timepiece that he has acquired - now you mention it, when I changed the time the hands spun very very easily with almost no friction, I didn't assign any significance to it at the time but now you mention it, it makes a lot of sense, so I think you have nailed the problem!