Unable to connect Series 2 watch after 17.4.1 iOS update

iOS update 17.4 essentially bricked my 11 Pro after days of strange behavior (showing phone storage was full when it was not, loud clicking instead of vibrating, stuck on apple logo for hours etc). Eventually I was able to fix with a hard restore and updating to 17.4.1 with my MacBook.

All is well with my phone now except it will not connect with my Series 2 watch that’s running on 6.3. I know, it’s very old, but I’ve had no issues until now and it’s worked fined. Strangely, some things still work: watch shows updated weather, all current messages, current health data, friends activity rings. What doesn’t work: no new notifications on watch, can’t ping my phone, cannot change any settings on phone Apple Watch app, no currently playing app open when playing something on phone.

Because the phone can’t connect to the watch, I can’t erase it. I was able to unpair, but not repair as nothing pops up on the watch.

Did 17.4.1 finally kill my old but trusty watch or has anyone found a work around? TIA