Problem with Activation Lock on apple watch

Hello,

I am facing the following problem for which I will need your help if possible.

A few months ago I connected my apple watch to my iphone. For many years now I am using an apple id which is my gmail. For the following months I stopped using my apple watch. For some reason a few days ago I needed to reset my iphone device. So, I did reset my device without unpairing the apple watch. Today that I attempted to pair my apple watch to the iphone I found that the activation lock was enabled (I can't remember if I did it myself or if it was done automatically) and when I tried to insert my gmail apple id it wouldn't accept it as it was expecting an account in icloud form. When I tried to use my icloud email did not recognize it as a valid apple id and now I am not able to access the watch :(

Is there any way to retrieve the access?

Thank you in advance for any help.

Alexia