I have seen tuning drums an a few American sets with gears around the outer circumference, and springs in the middle that act as a tension between the tuning disks (drum ), it acts as shock absorber, so the dial pointer doesn't have slack in the dial string, or abruptly slam into the end of the dial.
So in case the alignment of the dial is off, it may be that the dial string is too loose. The dial pointer in most cases has a small dent on the dial track or a tiny mark on the dial somewhere. This mark is used to set the pointer for correct calibration. It also might be that the pointer is sliding on the string. Once the pointer is aligned correctly, a little bit of glue is applied to the pointer and string to keep the string or pointer bound.
That's my understanding of your problem anyway.
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