Slow mandatory watchOS update on Apple Watch Series 10 setup

I just purchased a brand new Apple Watch Series 10 and attempted to set it up this evening. During the initial pairing process, the watch required a mandatory watchOS 26.3 update (2.8 GB) with absolutely no option to skip or postpone.

The issues I encountered:

• The watch remained locked on the pairing screen throughout the entire update. I could not access Settings, Control Center, or anything else.
• Because I had no access to watch settings, I could not manually connect the watch to my Wi-Fi network. The update appeared to transfer via Bluetooth from my iPhone, which is extremely slow for a 2.8 GB file.
• The estimated time remaining was wildly inaccurate - jumping between 6 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours, 2 hours, and 1 hour randomly.
• The entire download process took well over an hour despite having a 1 Gbps Wi-Fi connection and both devices on chargers, 1 cm apart.
• I tried restarting the activation process, toggling Bluetooth - nothing helped. Toggling Bluetooth actually reset the download progress.

My setup:

• Apple Watch Series 10 (brand new, out of box)
• iPhone 15 Pro Max on latest iOS
• 1 Gbps Wi-Fi, 5 meters from router, no walls
• Both devices on chargers

I specifically set aside 2 hours in my evening to enjoy my new purchase. Instead, I spent the entire time watching a progress bar. This is my first negative experience with any Apple product.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a known workaround I'm missing?