Apple Watch says it is connected, but will not communicate with iPhone

Hello.

Apple Watch Series 1 and an iPhone 11. Both on the latest OS releases. The Watch has been working properly syncing since I got it brand new, and on Thursday 4/21/22 stopped communicating with the iPhone. I unpaired to try and "reset" and then re-pair and I received an error that said

"This Apple Watch may not have unpaired properly. To finish unpairing, go to the Settings app on this Apple watch, tap on General, Reset, and Erase All Content and Settings."

I did what it suggested above and it will not unpair.

To be clear, the Watch is not displaying "no connection" icons like the red phone with a line through it. According to the Watch, it is connected to the iPhone.

The apple watch app when opened, goes straight to "Start Pairing".

My watch doesn't go into pairing mode for me to connect.

The watch does not exchange texts or phone calls, or any notifications from the phone.

The Phone and Watch both have all radios enabled. WiFi and Bluetooth. Airplane mode is not enabled.

I have restarted both numerous times.

I have reset the iPhone's network settings. (This is not an option on the Watch.)

I am looking for some idea of what I can do to get them paired again.

Any suggestions are helpful.

Thanks

Alison