Apple Watch SE is not connecting to my iPhone 12 Pro Max

i have an iPhone 12 Pro Max which the IOS is up to date, I was trying to update my watch not knowing that we can’t update it because my watch is an SE which cannot be updated, I have tried multiple times to pair the phone with the watch but it’s not working, it’s asking to update the watch which is not possible.. what can I do to use the watch without updating it ? Because it doesn’t support the newer version.