Alps SKCL Amber
Manufacturer	Alps Electric
Family	Alps SKCM/SKCL series
Part Number	Unknown
Switch Type	Linear
Travel	3.5mm
Sense method	Metal contact
Mount	Plate mount
Rated lifetime	20 million cycles
Quoted operating force	Likely 90gf, rarely 55gf

Alps SKCL Amber is a linear switch in the first generation of the Alps SKCM/SKCL Series. It was manufactured in Korea as part of the Gold Star Alps partnership.

The switch follows the general characteristics of the SKCL family, consisting of an upper and lower housing, contact module, stem, and spring. The upper housing has a hole for an LED, but the bottom housing will only have holes for the LED legs to pass through in switches ordered with an LED.

As a first generation switch, SKCL Amber will always have slits in the upper housing. SKCL Amber also has the symmetrical stem typical of a first-generation SKCL switch.

The stem, which is a dull amber, is almost always lubricated and is likely made of a nylon blend¹⁾.

Alps SKCL Amber, like all SKCM/SKCL series switches, uses a contact module to register the keypress. This sits in the housing on the side without the LED cutout.

Not much is known about the switch, an unfortunate trend across all Alps switches produced by the Gold Star Alps partnership. It appears to be mostly used as a spacebar switch in keyboards containing Alps SKCL Brown.

There is an additional variant, sometimes referred to as “Striped Amber” that appears to be a custom order (as denoted by 'lipstick marking' on the slider). This differs from the black marker used for heavy switches in the regular SKCM/SKCL line, but is not necessarily indicative of anything as the switches were not manufactured in the same plants. This switch has a significantly lighter spring (~55g)²⁾, similar to SKCM Blue - it appears different visually, but this is likely due to the smaller diameter of the spring post in the first generation SKCL stem.

It has only been seen in a single keyboard, which lends credence to it either being a custom order or factory mystery.