Thank you all for your valuable feedback. The purpose of this post was really to decide what is the right course of action and you have been very helpful
Below is their official response
“According to the manufacturer’s tolerances, the difference between the recto and verso minute hands should not exceed ±1 minute. On this particular watch, the observed difference is approximately half a minute.”
I still insisted on the refund and to be fair to JLC, they accepted it.