Minion-like Apple Watch stand is so cute it’s creepy

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WatchMe apple watch stand
The WatchMe Apple Watch stand is clearly planning something.
Photo: Vivien Muller

We hope that the designer of this cute Apple Watch stand doesn’t get an adorable little cease-and-desist letter in the mail.

The WatchMe stand bears an uncanny resemblance to the stars of some despicable memes scattered across the Internet like salt, but it isn’t a complete rip-off. They don’t have arms, after all. And luckily, the Apple Watch, which the stand wears like a monocle, isn’t round.

So it’s a toss-up, really.

WatchMe is seeking funding on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, and it comes courtesy of French designer Vivien Muller, who also designed the amazing, bonsai-esqe ElectTree solar charger. The stand even has a precious little backstory:

The WatchMe (Watchus cyclopus) is a newfound species, a (h)armless cyclops monster that was endemic to Vivien Muller’s office, east of France in the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia.

WatchMe has been selectively bred for months for various behaviors, cord management capabilities, and physical attributes.

It has no external ears and has very poor eyesight, however, it can be greatly improved by peculiar spectacles called “smartwatch.”

The domestic WatchMe performs many roles for people, such as decorating a bedside, companionship, and charging a wearable technology.

A farmed WatchMe will be released at the end of year if a large adoption campaign succeeds.

Your Apple Watch’s magnetic charging puck fits up inside the stand’s plastic frame, emerging where its eye would be. Then, you just slide your smartwatch over its “head” like a miner’s helmet, and an onboard app will generate “random animations” to keep things cute while your watch tops up.

Muller warns that “Apple may reject the app because it’s too simple,” and also mentions that the Apple Watch currently has no way to override the automatic standby mode, both of which would affect the stand’s ability to display stuff on the screen while it’s in use. But maybe you don’t need an animated gif of an eyeball peering out at you from your Apple Watch. It sounds less than ideal to me.

The campaign is hoping to raise €20,000 (about $22,000) by August 20, and as of this writing, it’s just over a quarter of the way there. €19 (app. $21) will get you your own when/if they ship in December, and you can even pick up little decorative stickers so they look even less like those other things.

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