Wrong Passcode, Try Again in X Hrs

Apple admitted it was a bug in os10.3

From the public release notes:

watchOS 10.4 includes new features, improvements and bug fixes, including:

• Tap to Show Full Notification setting now allows you to double-tap to expand the notification
• Using Apple Pay with Confirm with AssistiveTouch will require a passcode for additional security and will not support double-clicking the side button
• Resolves an issue that causes some users to experience false touches on the display
• Fixes an issue that prevents contacts from syncing to Apple Watch for some users

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: Apple security releases - Apple Support

It's a bug in 10.3 on s9 and U2 watches.

Update phone to iOS17.4.1 and watch to watch OS 10.4

If a hard reboot does not fix it because you are in a passcode loop then you have to Wipe Watch and set up again then update

Put Apple Watch on its charger.

Press and hold the side button until you see the screen with the power button in the upper-right corner, then let go of the side button. If your Apple Watch has an earlier version of watchOS, you see the Power Off slider instead of the power button.

Press and hold the Digital Crown until you see the red Reset button.

Tap Reset, then tap Reset again to confirm. 

After Apple Watch unpairs completely, you can pair again. Remember that you'll need the Apple ID and password that were used to set up the watch.

1. No, it's not. bug.
2. It has nothing to do with the watch face change at all.

If the watch kept the screen active and it was touching something that might have registered as a touch, it can try to input passcode multiple times and be wrong, which would then lock the device.

It's annoying sure, but it's not a bug. It's a physical interaction with the watch screen that causes this.

There is no way for a watch face to lock the watch because or wrong passcodes. It simply cannot happen, watch faces cannot input passcodes to cause it.

Yes it has been reported possibly due to an update and an unpair and set up as new watch always fixes it.

(It can also be caused by hardware failure.)

If you are waiting for hours or locked out then reset the watch manually

ie

Put Apple Watch on its charger.

Press and hold the side button until you see the screen with the power button in the upper-right corner, then let go of the side button. (If your Apple Watch has an earlier version of watchOS, you see the Power Off slider instead of the power button.)

Press and hold the Digital Crown until you see the red Reset button.

Tap Reset, then tap Reset again to confirm.

After Apple Watch unpairs completely, you can pair again. Remember that you'll need the Apple ID and password that were used to set up the watch. Set up as New Watch.

Per advice from LD159, I reset the watch by unpairing it from iPhone, and pairing them again. It took me out of that 8-hour jail time. Thanks.

As page 1.

It has been reported possibly due to an update and an unpair and set up as new watch always fixes it.

(It can also be caused by hardware failure.)

If you are waiting for hours or locked out then reset the watch manually

ie

Put Apple Watch on its charger.

Press and hold the side button until you see the screen with the power button in the upper-right corner, then let go of the side button. (If your Apple Watch has an earlier version of watchOS, you see the Power Off slider instead of the power button.)

Press and hold the Digital Crown until you see the red Reset button.

Tap Reset, then tap Reset again to confirm.

After Apple Watch unpairs completely, you can pair again. Remember that you'll need the Apple ID and password that were used to set up the watch. Set up as New Watch.

I will repeat the instructions

Put Apple Watch on its charger.

Press and hold the side button until you see the screen with the power button in the upper-right corner, then let go of the side button. If your Apple Watch has an earlier version of watchOS, you see the Power Off slider instead of the power button.

Press and hold the Digital Crown until you see the red Reset button.

Tap Reset, then tap Reset again to confirm.

After Apple Watch unpairs completely, you can pair again. Remember that you'll need the Apple ID and password that were used to set up the watch. Set up as New Watch.

I will repeat the instructions for this lockout

Put Apple Watch on its charger.

Press and hold the side button until you see the screen with the power button in the upper-right corner, then let go of the side button. If your Apple Watch has an earlier version of watchOS, you see the Power Off slider instead of the power button.

Press and hold the Digital Crown until you see the red Reset button.

Tap Reset, then tap Reset again to confirm.

After Apple Watch unpairs completely, you can pair again. Remember that you'll need the Apple ID and password that were used to set up the watch. Set up as New Watch and update phone to ios17.4.1 and watch to OS10.4

Or read page 2 of the thread

see my post above yours. Reset it, you will only lose Faces and a few settings.

It should not happen again unless you have a faulty screen digitizer.

Hold in crown + side button until the Apple logo appears then let go.

If that does nothing then you need a Genius Bar.

Update to OS10.5 should do it.

You may have to reset it first like this

If you’ve forgotten your Apple Watch passcode – Apple Support

I agree with most of what you've suggested here, up until the end, where you say "Set up as New Watch." I actually called Applecare (my Ultra is only 4 months old), and when we got to the set up stage, they told me to choose between Restore and Set Up As New Watch. I didn't want to go through the tedious hassle of re-setting all my custom settings, so chose Restore. And it worked. And today it is still working, so you might want to think about changing that last bit of direction. Thanks

This has just happened to my Apple Watch Ultra. I watched and there seems to be a bug that auto populates the passcode (incorrectly), which then locks the watch for an increasing amount of time. I'm now waiting 3hrs until there is a chance to populate a passcode again.

Hoping for a forced update to clear the bug.

aspian wrote:

I can only see the apple loogo

Hold in the crown and the side button together til the logo disappears then comes back, and then release.

Yes I had to delete and the pair my watch again. It was a time consuming process and very inconvenient. It shouldn't just randomly lock me out.