1982 William “Bill” Hollander, a young instrument maker at the University of Colorado with a love for fly fishing decided to design and build a fly reel of a better design and quality than those being made at the time. Working in his garage shop, he designed and developed the Cutthroat Trout fly reel.


1983-87 Bill hand-built 50 of the Cutthroat Trout Reels and sold them to discriminating flyfishers around the country. The reels received very favorable reviews in Rod and Reel, Fly Fisherman (article1, article2 ) and Rocky Mountain News. Aspiring author John Gierach also wrote a thorough review lauding the design and quality of the Cutthroat reel.


1988 Bill sought to expand Wm. Hollander Co. into a full time business. Financial and family concerns prevented this, so further development and production of the Cutthroat Trout reel was halted.


 1990 Bill founded the Axis Instrument Company to develop and build ultra-sensitive gravity meters, refinements of those that he had worked on at the University of Colorado.

 

 1992 The film A River Runs Through It opened the public’s eye to the beauty of fly-fishing. The market exploded and many companies came on board with offerings of high quality, mass-produced fly-fishing equipment.

1993 Bill founded High Precision Devices, Inc. (HPD), a company devoted to precision instrument development and manufacturing for science and industry. HPD has built sophisticated instruments for government labs and private companies around the world.

HPD developed this high performance seismic vibration isolation platform in 2001 for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), a US consortium working to detect and study gravitational waves, or "ripples in space-time", the existence of which were predicted by Albert Einstein.


2001 With High Precision Devices’ team of engineers and machinists, Bill revived his dream to design and manufacture an innovative, exceptional quality fly reel. HPD began to devote a portion of its R&D budget to the creation of the Phoenix Series fly reels under its trade name, “Hollander Reels”. The first reel in the series, the P-50, is sized for 5,6 and 7 weight lines. It is ideal for trout, bass or as a light salmon/steelhead reel, and is fully salt-water compatible.

 

 2004 Hollander Reels is ready to share its revolutionary Phoenix P-50 fly reel with discerning anglers all over the world. Our talented group of engineers and artisans has created a fly reel of the utmost engineering excellence captured in a refined, classic design. Our goal in the design of this reel has been to produce the most technically advanced, indestructible, aesthetically pleasing reel available.