Pad & Quill Review: Timber Catchall and Nightstand Provide Elegant Apple Watch Charging Solutions

The charging stand has been one of the most popular and ubiquitous third-party accessories for the Apple Watch since the wearable device launched in April. A handful of well-known manufacturers have launched their own versions of a charging solution for the Apple Watch, including Pad & Quill with its Luxury Pocket Stand which debuted alongside the new Apple wearable earlier in the year.

Pad & Quill has now expanded its lineup of Apple Watch accessories with two new charging cradles -- the Timber Catchall and Timber Nightstand -- that hope to provide simple daily solutions for users to rest and charge their Apple Watches. Not only that, but each stand also offers a little extra space to store an iPhone and even the extra bands Apple Watch fans may have accumulated over the past few months.

Timber Nightstand

Pad & Quill sent me a Timber Nightstand in the lighter American Cherry color option, and the $89.95 stand is crafted with the company's usual care to detail and sturdiness. The back of the Nightstand includes an indentation designed to cradle an extra Apple Watch band or two, while the front is meant for the Apple Watch itself. The Nightstand's biggest feature is that it's designed to support the Apple Watch in Nightstand mode, which displays the time and any alarm set in a sideways nighttime-friendly green display.

The Timber Nightstand is also available in a darker American Walnut variety, but that option will cost users $119.95. Both versions function identically, requiring a separate Apple Watch charging cable to be threaded through to the bottom portion of the stand so the inductive charging puck can rest inside of the Timber Nightstand. There's also a small rubberized strip placed right below the carved out portion on the front of the stand so that the Apple Watch's stainless steel or aluminum won't directly come in contact with the Nightstand's wood and get scuffed or scratched.

After using the Timber Nightstand for a few nights, it's proven to be a sturdy and reliable receptacle for the Apple Watch that has largely convinced me to switch out my original charging stand for the foreseeable future. Once set up, the Nightstand feels solid with its 4.7 x 6.2 inch footprint, offering ease of mind for users who may worry about the height and wobbliness of taller and thinner Apple Watch stands.

Five rubberized nubs on its underside and a carved-out channel for snaking the charging cable through provide to an overall sense of security and stability, ensuring you won't knock off your Apple Watch in the middle of the night when reaching for it on its stand. The depression behind the watch stand portion also adds some diversity for the stand, letting users simultaneously store and display extra bands for their Apple Watch.

That groove does, however, also lead to one of the Timber Nightstand's only downsides: the groove is shallow and can feasibly hold only two to three bands before overflowing in disorder. As for the general concept of band storage in this manner, it's a personal preference, but some users may not be keen on the visual clutter of seeing their extra bands out in the open. As someone who's found it far too easy to throw an extra Sport band in a drawer and forget about it, however, I've found the visual reminder more of an invitation to switch up my band options on a regular basis.

Likely the most, and perhaps only, onerous aspect of the Timber Nightstand is the process required to remove the charging puck from its impression in the front of the stand. Due to the design of the stand, there's no easy way to grab the cord or manipulate the charger with a fingertip, so the only way to remove the entire cable from the stand is to find something with a fairly fine tip (I've been using a basic ballpoint pen) to push into a hole at the back of the Nightstand and remove the puck and cable fully from the wooden cradle.

It's far from the most laborious task -- and if you like the stand enough you shouldn't need to go through the process that many times -- but it is a notable burden when faced with the extra step. As someone who regularly packs up charging cables each weekend, I can see that task potentially causing annoyance in the long run, although another option could be to simply wrap up the cable around the admittedly small dock and take it along with you. Many users will, however, want to have a dedicated charging cable for the dock that they won't need to remove regularly.

The Timber Catchall

Similar to the Nightstand, the Timber Catchall gives its users two functions in one stand, this time adding in a groove big enough to fit "all sizes of iPhone" in addition to basic Apple Watch charging functionality. The biggest difference between the Catchall and the Nightstand, however, is the size. The Catchall comes in at 8.5 x6.4 inches (with another 8 inches of height), making the Catchall much larger than the Nightstand.

That size may cause some to second guess purchasing the highest-priced Pad & Quill Apple Watch stand, which rises in price for different grain finishes, starting at $99.00 for American Cherry and going up to $109.00 Exotic Sapele and $139.00 for American Walnut. I'd say I have an average size bedside table, and with the Timber Catchall, alarm clock, water bottle and various daily ephemera like a book and a pair of glasses, the Catchall quickly comes to dominate the space. Those interested in the dock for a desk or dresser with a larger surface area would probably fare better.

On a nightly charging basis, I was also a bit less comfortable with the Catchall's design for recharging the Apple Watch. The dock does this with an 8-inch stand portion that flips open at little over a 90-degree angle to provide enough weighted stability for the Apple Watch. But with no locking mechanism for the portion of wood that holds the Watch when charging, it still feels relatively hazardous that the dock could close down -- if you fumble for something on your table at night, or accidentally hit it with enough force -- with the Apple Watch still on it.

Improving on the Nightstand, the Catchall's larger size does lend it some more impressive storage abilities, however. Pad & Quill promises that "all sizes of iPhone" can fit in the large indentation on the right of the stand, and my iPhone 6s Plus has had no problems occupying the space the past few days. Users could also store bands there instead, and even use the groove created when the raised portion charges the Apple Watch as a receptacle for keys or pieces of jewelry.

Bottom Line

Pad & Quill's new line of Apple Watch stands are both impressive and attractive to behold in person, and their double-duty storage capabilities are, for the most part, welcome additions to the singular charging focus seen in some of the earlier third-party Apple Watch docks.

For many potential customers, it's the price points that may cause some hesitation in deciding whether or not the stands are worth buying. Starting with the Nightstand, I'd say the $89.95 American Cherry option is largely the winner in Pad & Quill's Apple Watch accessory lineup: its small but stocky footprint provides ease of mind, Nightstand mode support is fantastic, and the visual reminder of band alternatives makes for an endearing, handsome-looking product. The $119.95 (American Walnut) alternative will make fans of darker grains happy, but the $30 price premium is not insignificant.

For the base model of $99.00 in American Cherry, the Catchall is slightly harder to wholeheartedly recommend. Smaller bedside tables will have a bit of an issue accommodating its size, and its placement of the Apple Watch feels far too wobbly in conjunction with the rest of the dock, although the MagSafe charging puck keeps the device in check even at such a steep angle. The inclusion of $109.00 (Exotic Sapele) and $139.00 (American Walnut) versions of the Catchall ensure its premium quality, but don't necessarily warrant the extra cost.

How to Buy

The Timber Catchall and Timber Nightstand are both available for purchase right now from Pad & Quill's official website. Each of the Apple Watch docks come with free domestic shipping and a two-year warranty in case of any potential issues with the accessories. At the time of writing, all versions of each dock were available to ship immediately, although it should be noted that some of the premium color options -- like the Catchall in American Walnut -- have limited stock availability.