Hello carlynB,
Thank you for posting in Apple Support Communities.
Are you able to unpair and erase the watch then repair it again? If you’re unsure, let’s try that now as it can fix a lot of communication behaviors between the watch and the phone. You can do that by following the steps found here: Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support
If you’re still unable to pair the watch, has it ever been paired with another device? If so, try removing the watch from that device and then trying to pair with your watch again.
If you are still unable to pair the watch with your device, the next step would be to reach out to Apple Support so they can look into this in more detail. You can reach them here: Contact - Official Apple Support
Kindest regards.