Issues setting up/restoring older Apple Watches on iOS 13.4

Same issue, i tried to pair and update iwatch series 1, my iphone has ios 12 and other iphone ios 11, and also i tried on 13.6,

watch has os 3.1, nothing worked, same problem as in the message at the beginning of this thread. So how can we update our old watches and pair when they are restored on factory settings and this problem appears?! i’ll take mine to service :( hoping they have some solution

I finally gave up and purchased a new watch (needed/wanted a new one anyway). After pairing the new watch 5 to my iPhone XR/iOS13, I gave my old watch 2 (the one that wouldn't work on my iPhone XR/iOS13) to my daughter and low and behold, it paired with her newer iPhone 11/iOS13 just fine (even though I tried pairing old watch 2 with other older iPhones in our house running iOS versions older than 13). Evidently, somehow you have to remove the watch from being paired to your phone (or try pairing someone else's watch with your phone?), then re-pair your watch. ??

Apple will fix this problem for free! I have an iPhone XR and was having trouble pairing it to a brand new series 2 watch. When trying to pair on my phone it wouldn’t read the animation or provide the number code to pair manually. I then tried on an iPhone 6 and was able to get to the point of seeing it needed an update but not being able to update it. I sent it into Apple and they sent me a new refurbished watch and it has been working ever since!

Updated to 13.6, eagerly awaited to have my watch back in operation again.....nope, "your OS needs updating on your phone" followed by " your OS is the most current"

About ready to smash this worthless piece of plastic with a brick now.

Ha! just gone through the online chat again with them (you never know) same old suggestions but when with it. Finally oh its broke we will have to get a tech to look at it. Chose the mail in service as I'm in no rush, been living without it.

Got my email and have to make a payment £192.44!!!

Hes trying to tell me its specific to this watch now.

Just another apple product that cant go beyond 5 years due to no long term OS commitment.

Yep, I've got the exact same problem.

I'm trying to pair my old Apple Watch Series 1 to my iPhone 11 Pro (which already has the latest 14.0.1 iOS version), but during the pairing process it asks me to update my iPhone iOS to the latest version to continue.

Still can't believe Apple didn't think this out...

In the same boat and same sea of frustration. To have it go from “becoming obsolete” to “completely useless” overnight is over the top.

restrict some features for security reasons of you have to but don’t treat your consumer base this way.

our family has slowly up graded over the last couple years. Mine would have been next. But this behavior makes me lose faith in its cost to benefit ratio as a next purchase.

probably would have

Any resolution? Same boat here.

Same here.......Apple is there anything we can do. I'm sick of paying for a premium product only for it to be obsolete within 5 years and the object hanging round the house useless but not broken.

im having the same problem, I get stock on your software is up to date page

Was hoping the recent OS would sort this bug out.....nope, still stuck in the loop, won’t update watch as phone needs recent update of which it has.

what a waste of plastic!

i have the exact same issue, did you find any solution?

If you read all the replies I posted the solution twice.