Apple watch not connecting to new phone

I upgraded my phone from a 7 to the SE 2022 and did phone to phone transfer so that all of my data was transferred across to the new phone.

when I have tried to connect my apple watch to the new phone in the app it was saying "pair new watch" and "pair existing watch" when I clicked on the existing watch option it tried to connect but just kept saying "make sure the apple watch is on and close to the phone" I couldn't get it any closer as I had the phone on top of my watch. I tried turning it off and on, I have tried turning my watch on and off and I have even deleted the watch app and redownloaded it.

my issue now is that after redownloading the app it is no longer saying "pair existing watch" and just says "start pairing"

how can I get my watch to pair without resetting it because I am also worried about losing all of my apple watch badges which I have accumulated over the year of me having my watch