Restore Apple Watch/iPhone pairing without erasing watch data

To unpair and erase watch and remove Activation Lock

From a web browser,sign in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID.

Go to Find iPhone.

Click All Devices at the top of the screen.

Click your Apple Watch.

Click Erase [device]. Select Next until the device is erased.

Click Remove from Account.

Then;

Setup your Watch to a new iPhone

ashented wrote:

Setting up a new iPhone caused my existing watch/phone pairing to break.

My old phone is still my primary phone, but I used my Apple ID to set up the new phone.

How can I restore without erasing all watch data (primarily fitness logs) when neither phone acknowledges being paired to the watch?

I've tried restarting all devices, removing/adding to bluetooth, and removing/installing the Watch app.

The watch sees my phone in the Bluetooth list.

The app (on phone) won't show the watch under "devices" and insists the watch is paired to another device. (The new phone says the exact same thing).

troublehshoot here If your Apple Watch isn't connected or paired with your iPhone - Apple Support

ashented wrote:

Thanks, but I want to *not* erase the watch.

(The step after All devices is "Erase Apple Watch")

All articles online I've found online suggest erasing is the step needed to reset everything, but I want to know if that can be avoided at all.

I never manually changed the link between my phone and watch, and I want to enforce that connection again *without* having to erase my watch. Thanks!

NO, otherwise you would've seen documents or online suggestion telling you how.

Don't erase the watch then,good luck with that one.

To be clear- fitness data is stored on the iPhone, backed up from the Watch. It should have been migrated when setting up the new iPhone.

You have to erase it. There's no way around that.