LINCOLNVILLE BEACH — Windsor Chairmakers is a business success that travelers along Route 1 can’t help but notice.

Since owner Jim Brown started the fledgling company in a small shop overlooking the beach, the business and buildings have expanded at a steady pace. From a one-man operation, Windsor Chairmakers now has 12 full-time employees.

Brown attributes his success to superior products and customer service. He said his hand-crafted chairs are among the finest available in the country. So confident is Brown of that claim that his showroom has chairs made by his major competitors lined up beside his own.

“I tell our customers to have a seat in theirs and then sit in mine,” Brown said this week. “Most agree that mine are more comfortable.

Brown likes to say that his chairs are “sold retail nationwide” because his Route 1 location provides him with access to a steady stream of potential customers from all over America.

A printout covering the showroom’s hallway identifies each owner by city and state. If the $400-plus price tag isn’t enough to convince a buyer of the quality of a Windsor Chairmakers chair, the list of wealthy communities where they wind up can serve as a comfort.

Designed by an English wheelwright in 1735, the Windsor chair has been a sought-after piece of furniture ever since King George II ordered some for Windsor Castle. The functional design is as popular today as it was then, Brown said.

The chair’s legs, spindles and turnings are made of ash, and the seats are of ash or pine.

“Ash because it’s strong. It’s what they make baseball bats and hockey sticks out of and if they could make them out of something stronger, they’d do it.”

He stressed that a chair’s seat was the key to its comfort. Describing himself as a “derrieologist, because I’ve been studying derrieres all my life,” Brown’s chairs feature a one-piece seat he designed himself and one he guarantees will “fit 94 percent of the population.”

Brown got his start in the furniture business two decades ago in North Carolina, where most of the country’s commercial grade furniture is made.

“I was a free-lance designer for 15 years and I know the furniture business inside out. Not only the manufacturers but all the major stores east of the Mississippi,” Brown said.

He added that a wealth of experience in design and sales gives him an edge on the competition.

“For a little shop like ours to have their own staff designer and marketing person is definitely a plus.”

To demonstrate the strength of his chairs Brown placed one face down on the floor and stood on the back. The delicate spindles sprung up and down under his weight but held firm. All of Brown’s products have a lifetime guarantee.

“If you back over one with a Jeep we don’t care,” Brown said. “No questions asked. You send it back and we’ll fix it.”

Windsor Chairmakers also has a selection of 18th century design tables, highboys, desks, china cabinets and poster beds. Because each piece of furniture is crafted by special order, buyers are offered a choice of finishes.

“We use varnishes, milk paints, dyes, mordants, glazes and wax on tiger maple, cherry, ash and pine. These time-tested ingredients build a quality finish, beautiful to look at and practical to live with.”