A 75% Gasket Mounted Keyboard with a Rotary Encoder
Design: We envisioned an elegant, 75% keyboard that bridged the gap between form and function. The Paragon features a gasket-mounted system that remains invisible when the board is seated upon a table at a 7-degree typing angle. The seamless exterior in tandem with the wide, uniform bezel provides the foundation upon which the board was constructed.
Case: The case is made of Aluminum and anodized in four finishes: Black, Deep Navy, Gunmetal, and Purple. A fourth finish is offered in eWhite to complete the Paragon lineup.
Weight: The weight features the iconic San Francisco skyline highlighting the Transamerica pyramid along with both the Golden Gate and Bay Bridge. The weight is made of brass and coated with a PVD finish while the entire board weighs in at over 7 lbs unbuilt.
Internals: The internals originally featured a 3mm plate offered in both Aluminum and Brass. After extensive prototyping and testing, we determined that a 1.5 mm aluminum or polycarbonate plate would provide a better typing experience. The plate supports both ISO and ANSI layouts and utilizes plate analysis for an optimal typing experience. The gasket mounting system utilizes 24 seperate gaskets to isolate the plate from the case providing a cushioned typing experience.
Knob: The knob, made of brass, features a PVD finish as well. It is programmable via QMK while supporting a plethora of functionality including volume and scrolling. The default knobs are solid brass with a PVD coating while the artisan knobs feature a resin inlay.
PCB Options: The Paragon features two custom PCBs. The hotswap pcb allows a user to place switches directly into hotswap sockets in PCB without the need for soldering. The soldering PCB provides ISO support along with a split spacebar option. The layout options are listed below:
- The Hotswap PCB supports the following:
- Normal and Stepped Caps Lock
- Normal and Split Backspace
- Bottom Row: 1.25u 1.25u 1.25u 6.25u 1.5u 1.5u
- Bottom Row: 1.5u 1.5u 7u 1.5u 1.5u
- The Soldering PCB supports the following:
- Normal and Stepped Caps Lock
- Normal and Split Backspace
- Split Spacebar Bottom Row: 1.25u 1.25u 1.25u 2.25u 1.25u 2.75u 1.5u 1.5u
- Bottom Row: 1.25u 1.25u 1.25u 6.25u 1.5u 1.5u
Build Stream and Soud Test: Prior to the GroupBuy, we sent the third prototype to a well-established streamer in the community for review.
GroupBuy Information: The GroupBuy went live in January 2022. The vendors, quantities, and time at which the sale went live on each site is listed below:
- Vendors, Quantity, and Opening Times
- US: Vala Supply: 300 units, opens 10 AM PST on January 8th
- Canada: Deskhero: 75 units, opens 9 AM PST on January 7th
- EU: Candykeys: 75 units, opens 7 PM GMT +2:00 on January 8th
- Asia: iLumkb: 75 units, opens 4 PM SGT on January 9th
- Oceania: DailyClack: 50 units opens 11 AM AEDT on January 8th
GroupBuy Results: The Paragon sold out almost immediately in each region. In the United States, the board sold out in under 3 minutes and the website traffic led to an error that resulted in an oversold 80 units. The net revenue for the board across all regions, including extras, exceeded $500,000 USD.
Renders: Renders remain popular in gauging interest for keyboards and keycaps. In the interest of making keyboard and keycap design more accessible, we have open sourced the render files for the Paragon. You can download the render file here or utilize pre-existing scenes in the Keyboard Render Kit here.
