They were made by the Record Reel Company of Zurich, Switzerland in the early 1960s. They also made a model 700 under rod semi-closed faced gold reel with a finger/trigger line release which looked somewhat similar but has a longer foot stem. Both the 600 and 700 models were sold as Record Reel, like the one pictured above, and also as H-I (Horrocks-Ibbotson) The Advanced Search button at the top right hand corner of the page works wonders when trying to find previously discussed information.