The Apple Watch is such a stunningly gorgeous piece of engineering that throwing it down on your nightstand at the end of a hard day — as if it were a common-as-dirt Android Wear device — is borderline insulting.
What you need is an equally attractive charging stand to proudly display your new wearable as it’s refreshed for the following day.
But which one to choose? Follow Cult of Mac’s suggestions and you’ll be keeping your Watch battery fully-juiced in style.
Nomad Apple Watch Charging Stand
I’m not a fan of people saying “The such-and-such that Jony Ive would have designed” when referring to third-party Apple accessories, but of all the Apple Watch chargers I’ve seen, this Nomad charging stand is the closest thing to something whose design language fits with the curvaceous modern simplicity that has long marked Apple’s industrial design department.
Made from aluminum and copper alloy — color options for both space gray and silver — and with its cable cleverly hidden from view, it’s an attractive-yet-solid option, too. And its $59.99 price is fairly reasonable.
Price: $59.99
NuDock: Apple Watch & iPhone Docking Station
The Apple Watch is yet another item to charge each day, but thanks to a nifty Indiegogo crowdfunding project, there’s now a way to charge both your iPhone and Apple Watch at once, while also having a smart LED lamp thrown into the equation.
It’s a stylish, neat solution — and we’re apparently not the only ones to think so since the project scored 1,187 percent of its stated $30,000 fundraising goal. It’s available from July.
Price: $249
Quill & Pen Luxury Pocket Stand
You remember that gnarled old Apple Watch stand your grandpappy had back in the day? Of course you don’t, because the Apple Watch has only been available to buy for — at best — a couple of weeks now.
But if your grandpappy really had owned an Apple Watch a century ago, this is probably the kind of watch stand he would have stood it on. The Quill & Pen Luxury Pocket Stand for Apple Watch won’t ship until the middle of next month, but it looks worth the wait.
Each beautifully chunky unit is hewn from a single block of either cherrywood, walnut, or mahogany — modified to securely hold the Apple Watch magnet charger. It can also be folded for travel. Presumably in your local horse-drawn wagon.
Price: $69.99 — $79.99
Navitech Stand (Wood Oak)
If the cabin-in-the-woods-style Quill & Pen Watch stand is a bit too rugged for your tastes, then this solid oak charging stand from Navitech is another great wood-based option.
At only $34.99 on Amazon, it’s slightly more affordable, while the company also offers a gun metal gray version if you prefer your Apple Watch to be proffered on what looks like the outstretched arm of a Terminator.
Price: $34.99
DodoCase Charging Stand
Another wooden stand, this elegant charger is made from California American walnut, handcrafted in San Francisco. My own personal preference is for wooden stands, and the DodoCase one is a great example of a less rustic, more polished one. A groove carved into the side stops the charger’s wire from dangling in an unsightly manner.
Price: $99.95
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
9 responses to “5 Apple Watch stands worthy of cradling your beautiful device”
geez this watch crap is just stupid. I thought you are suppose to wear it on your wrist… Oh and how can I text with my phone in my hand if I have to turn my wrist over to look at the time, which I could just do with the phone in my hand without the watch. If you buy one of these your an idiot.
You could at least hide a little bit of your envy, don’t you think ?
You’re** an idiot.
Skip F*** is a real winner. Click his profile. Real fun guy.
What???
The usual rant from a crapDroid community. Every time Apple releases anything, these imbeciles would read these sites and get pissed and show the world their IQ.
You see, typical crapDroid fans are folks with low IQ to start with, low income, Walmart bargain shoppers. These folks do not know the concept of a fine quality product. They do not know the difference between a fine automobile vs. the truck that they drive.
Many take the buss to work. If you don’t believe me, go on any city bus and you see almost 99% of them have “samesung” crapDroid phones or flip phones. Customers at BMW, Mercedes dealerships all have their iPhones, iPads, MacBook Air and now Apple watches.
So remarks like this “Skip F” imbecile here shows the world how dump he really is.
Please forgive Mr. or Ms. “Skip F”, he or she does not know any better. I bet Mr. Skip F has a home build PC that pumps out so much heat and heats up his bedroom this Summer.
It’s actually really nice to not have to take your huge phone out of your pocket for every single notification. You can check the notification with a quick flick of the wrist to see if it even needs to be addressed. It’s also amazing to be able to leave the iPhone on the kitchen table and be all over the house without having to have the phone with you and still be able to get notifications and phone calls. If it isn’t important, you don’t have to run to your phone every time. All the fitness features are fantastic for athletic people or people trying to lose weight and have some sort of way to track activity levels. And if one wears a watch anyway, like most people actually do (the wristwatch industry shipped over a billion units last year, yes, B) then why not have it do so much more than just tell time and date?
Thanks for the roundup! Gives me some direction.
Those are hilarious, and clever! Gooogle “10design Watchtower” for a great looking one. It’s a newer company so these tech sites aren’t posting any photos, they haven’t seemed to find it yet I guess.