Patek Philippe

Calatrava Pilot (Black sunburst Dial)

Name: Patek Philippe Calatrava Pilot (Black sunburst Dial)
Brand: Patek Philippe
SKU: 5524R-001
Availability: InStock

Ref. 5524R-001

On request

Message on WhatsApp

Case42mm 18k rose gold

DialBlack sunburst, Arabic numerals

Movement324 S C FUS

StrapLeather

PapersBox and Papers

The Calatrava Pilot line reaches back to Patek’s 1930s hour angle watches built for aerial navigation. Big numerals and oversized crowns give the house’s most formal name its most adventurous face.

Patek Philippe’s Calatrava Pilot, here in 42mm 18k rose gold, carrying a black sunburst, arabic numerals display. 324 S C FUS keeps it running.

Fun fact: The Calatrava was drawn in 1932 on Bauhaus lines, when the Stern family had just bought Patek out of the crash. Its plain bezel and clean dial became the template for the dress watch.

Patek's aviation dual time in rose gold

Reference5524R-001

Case42mm x 10.78mm 18k rose gold, screw-down time-zone pushers, water resistant to 30m

MovementAutomatic 324 S C FUS (early production) or 26-330 S C FUS (later production), confirmed per example

Introduced2018; the 5524 line launched in 2015 in white gold

Why this one matters

Patek introduced the Calatrava Pilot Travel Time in 2015 in white gold, and it divided opinion. The house had made pilot's hour angle watches in the 1930s, so the vocabulary was not invented for the occasion, but a 42mm cockpit-styled case sat a long way from the 96 that gave the Calatrava its name. The rose gold 5524R-001 followed at Baselworld in 2018.

The travel time mechanism is older than the case. Patek patented its two-pusher local hour system in the 1990s and had used it on the 5134 and the 5164 before the 5524 arrived. What the 5524 added was an aviator's format: an oversized crown, applied luminous numerals, and a day/night aperture for each time zone, local at 9 and home at 3.

The movement

The 5524R runs Patek's mainstream automatic with the FUS travel time works added: 324 S C FUS on early production and 26-330 S C FUS later, so confirm the generation from the papers or the caseback. Beyond hours, minutes and central seconds, the local hour hand jumps in one hour steps on the two pushers on the left flank without moving the minutes, and a pointer date at 6 follows local time, with its own corrector at 6:30. The pushers lock, so a knock will not move the setting.

On the wrist

At 42mm and 10.78mm this is among the larger cases Patek makes in this line, and it does wear its size, though the lugs are short and the height is contained. In rose gold on calf it reads dressier than the aviation cues suggest, and it goes under a cuff better than the numbers imply. Water resistance is 30m, so treat it as a travel watch rather than a sports watch. On a smaller wrist, handle one before committing.

Questions we are asked about this reference

Is 42mm too big for this style of Patek?

At 42mm it is among the larger cases Patek makes in this line, which the house catalogues under Complications rather than Calatrava, and the 5924G matches it. Short lugs and a 10.78mm height help, but it does wear its size. On a smaller wrist, handle one before committing.

How does this differ from the white gold 5524G?

Name the reference first, since the blue-dial 5524G-001 was replaced in 2024 by the 5524G-010 with an ivory lacquered dial on a khaki composite strap. Against the current 5524G-010 the differences are metal, dial and strap. Check the calibre generation on both, since later examples run 26-330 S C FUS.

Can I swim with it?

No. It is rated to 30m, which covers splashes and rain, but this is a travel and dress complication. Keep it off the wrist in the pool and the sea.

Calatrava

Patek's round dress watch, launched in 1932 with the reference 96

The Calatrava opened in 1932 with the reference 96, a plain round watch that Patek describes as drawn on the Bauhaus principle that function determines the form of an object, and the house dates the line from it. The name comes from the Calatrava cross, the emblem registered as the company trademark in 1887. The look is deliberately quiet: a round case with a slim bezel, applied markers or Breguet numerals, and nothing on the dial competing for attention. The reference 6119 carries the hobnail Clous de Paris pattern guilloched on its bezel, and the reference 5227 hides its sapphire back under a dust cover on an invisible hinge.

plain round case, slim bezel

hobnail Clous de Paris bezel on the 6119

applied markers or Breguet numerals

small seconds on the hand wound models

Sizes in the family

34.6 to 40 mm across the current references

Who it suits

For the buyer who wants a formal watch with nothing to explain, and is content for it to go unnoticed across a table.

See every Calatrava we have