Watchmakers in Portland, Maine
The Middle 39
A 39 mm steel automatic with a Swiss Sellita movement, regulated by hand in Portland, Maine. The dial reads as clearly at midnight as it does at noon.
From $1,450, with a five-year warranty
The dial
Applied by hand, under a loupe
Each index is a separate piece of polished steel, filled with Super-LumiNova and set into the dial by hand. Theo lines the yellow arc up with the 12 index to within half a millimeter, or the dial goes back to the printer. Over it sits a double-domed sapphire, coated on the inside so there is nothing on the outside to scratch off.
I. The second mate
Maren Lindqvist spent six years as second mate on product tankers, standing the watch from midnight to four. She came ashore in 2016, trained as a watchmaker and serviced other people’s watches in Portland for three years before drawing one of her own.
The first batch, 150 watches, was assembled at a kitchen table on Munjoy Hill and sold out in 11 weeks. Six of us now build them in a room above a sail loft on Commercial Street, 300 at a time.
Your time 02:40
Five bells
in the middle watch
II. Named for the ship’s watches
A ship’s day is divided into seven watches so someone is always on the bridge. Three of them give their names to our models, and each model marks its own hours on the dial in yellow. Move over the ring to see which is which. The hand shows the time where you are.
A dial with nothing extra on it
Every mark on the dial is there to be read. The yellow arc covers 12 to 4, the middle watch the model is named for. We left the logo off because it made the dial harder to read, so the name is engraved on the caseback instead.
1
The 12-to-4 arc
Yellow-pigmented lume. It is yellow by day and glows a warmer green than the hands at night.
2
Crown at 4
Out of the way of the back of your hand when you haul a line, carry a tray or type.
3
Sapphire, coated inside only
The anti-reflective coating is on the inner face, so there is nothing on the outside to scratch off.
4
Pressure-tested at 25 bar
Every watch, for an hour, before Ruth signs the card that ships with it.
1
2
3
4
On paper
The Middle 39, all three dials. It is 11.4 mm thick with the domed crystal, thin enough to go under a shirt cuff and thick enough for a 200 m case.
39 mm steel, 46.5 mm lug to lug
11.4 mm including the crystal
20 mm
200 m, screw-down crown at 4
Sellita SW300-1, automatic, 28,800 vph
56 hours
−2 to +6 seconds a day, checked in 5 positions
Double-domed sapphire, anti-reflective inside
Super-LumiNova X1 C3, yellow arc from 12 to 4
Three-link steel, 5-position micro-adjust clasp
Navy sailcloth from retired sails, steel buckle
142 g on the bracelet
5 years, first full service included
Six references in batch 4
Every one ships on the steel bracelet with a sailcloth strap in the box. When a reference sells out, it waits for the next batch.
Middle 39
$1,450
Prussian dial
MW-39P
In stock, ships in 2 days
Middle 39
$1,450
Ink dial
MW-39K
In stock, ships in 2 days
Middle 39
$1,520
Signal dial
MW-39S
120 made, 23 left
Dog Watch GMT 40
$1,890
Oxford dial
DW-40O
In stock, ships in 2 days
Dog Watch GMT 40
$1,890
Ink dial
DW-40K
In stock, ships in 2 days
First Watch Chrono 41
$2,950
Prussian dial
FW-41P
40 made, 9 left
From the owners’ log
I time occultations with the chronograph and wind it every night before I go out. It took a week to get used to winding. Now I miss it on other watches.
Walt
Amateur astronomer, Bridgton
First Watch Chrono 41
Owner since March 2026
I check the time maybe a hundred times a shift, often in a dark room with someone asleep. The lume holds until about 5 a.m., then it’s faint. I wish it lasted all night, but nothing I’ve owned does.
Dana
Night-shift nurse, Portland
Middle 39 Ink
Owner since February 2024
Bought the yellow one so I could find it at the bottom of my bag. It’s been dunked more times than I can count. Bracelet’s scratched to hell, case is fine.
Kerry
Lobsters out of Stonington
Middle 39 Signal
Owner since May 2025
Flour gets into everything. Jonah serviced it after two years and the crown gasket was the only part that needed changing.
Luca
Baker, opens at 4 a.m.
Middle 39 Prussian
Owner since November 2023
5-year warranty
Covers the movement, the case and the bracelet.
First service free
Strip-down, clean, regulation and new gaskets, once in the first five years.
Insured 2-day shipping
Free in the US by UPS. $45 to Canada, the UK and the EU, duties paid.
30 days to decide
Return it worn or unworn. Engraved casebacks are the exception.
Next batch
Batch 5 opens in January 2027
Another 300 watches: the Middle 39 in all three dials, the GMT in both, and 40 chronographs. We send one email when it opens. That is about four emails a year from us, in total.
We don’t send discount codes or countdown timers. Unsubscribe from the email itself.
