Short answer
There is no Patek Philippe reference 5390 Pilot Travel Time. Patek's pilot line is built around reference 5524 for men, 7234 for women, and 5924 for the chronograph version. The number 5390 shows up almost entirely in marketplace listings for counterfeit watches, in dealer shorthand that got copied and re-copied, or as a typo for 5524. If a seller is pushing a "Patek Philippe Aviator Travel Time 5390," that reference alone tells you the papers will not match anything Patek ever put on a dial.
Why the number matters more than the photos
Fake watch listings live on vagueness. A correct reference number forces a seller to commit to a spec sheet: case size, movement, year, dial variant. A wrong one lets them dodge every follow-up question, because there is nothing to compare against. I treat a bogus reference as the first data point, not a small typo. It usually means the description was written by someone who never handled the real thing.
What the genuine Pilot Travel Time actually is
- A 42 mm case in white or rose gold for 5524, 37.5 mm for the 7234.
- Caliber 324 S C FUS, a dual time zone movement with local time and home time.
- Two hour hands, one skeletonized, plus a small day and night indicator for home time.
- Two pushers on the left side of the case, around 8 and 10 o'clock, that step the local hour forward and back.
- A date window tied to local time, not home time.
- Vintage pilot styling: matte blue or brown dial, applied Arabic numerals, large lume plots, a wide strap and a distinctive clevis-style buckle on some versions.
How these replicas get built
Most fakes sold under this kind of listing use an off-the-shelf Asian automatic with a decorative rotor plate engraved to look like a Patek movement. The dual time function is usually faked one of two ways: a second hour hand that is glued to the main one and moves with it, or a pusher that does nothing. Real local-time jumping needs a modified movement with a separate hour wheel and a decoupling mechanism, and that is expensive to copy. So the fakes skip it and hope nobody presses the buttons.
The tells worth checking
- Press the 8 o'clock pusher. The local hour should jump one hour while the minute hand stays put. On a fake, nothing moves, or the whole hand set shifts.
- Look at the date change. On the real watch it follows local time when you jump the hour.
- Check the caseback engraving. Reference, movement number and case number are crisp and consistent. Fakes use generic laser etching.
- Inspect the dial print. Applied numerals on the genuine have depth and a polished bevel. Fakes are flat and slightly thick.
- Weigh the strap and buckle. Genuine Patek hardware has a heft that most replicas do not bother to match.
Price signals
A real 5524 in steel does not exist, and the gold versions trade far above five figures. Any listing offering a "5390" for a few hundred dollars is describing a counterfeit, full stop. There is no gray zone here. The same logic applies across the replica market, including the Rolex pieces this site usually covers: the price tells you what you are buying before the seller does.
Legal and practical risk
Importing counterfeit watches is illegal in the United States and most of Europe, and customs seizures happen. Payment methods favored by these sellers, wire transfers and crypto, offer no recourse. Servicing is another dead end, since no authorized watchmaker will touch it and independent shops often refuse counterfeit work.
Before you send money
- Verify the reference exists in the brand's catalog.
- Ask for a photo of the movement with the caseback off.
- Ask for a short video of the time zone pushers working.
- Confirm whether the seller accepts a return and who pays shipping.
- Walk away from any listing that uses a reference number the manufacturer never made.