What is the correct way to move an Apple watch from an old iPhone to a new one?

[aloper]

I've been looking around and can't find the correct answer to this...I have an iPhone on AT&T, paired with an Apple Watch 5 cellular at the moment. I'll be upgrading to a 12 Pro Max through IUP. Once I receive the new phone, what is the correct way to move my watch to the new phone so I KEEP the current cellular plan for the watch?

Is this correct?

Un-pair the watch from my current iPhone but KEEP the cellular plan during this process.
After the un-pair, do a backup on the old phone, so I have both a current phone/watch backup.
Setup new phone, restore that from the backup created above.
Pair the watch to the new phone and then restore that from the last watch backup made above.

My main concern is not losing the current cellular plan for the watch, as getting it setup the first time was a pain as I had to go to an AT&T store to get it setup since it kept failing trying to add it through the app...

 

[lexikon318]

Yup. Definitely keep the cellular plan on the watch and restore from backup. The only time where you’d remove the plan is if you’re switching to a new watch.

 

[waw74]

don't do anything.
Apple wants you to buy new phones, and spend more money, so they have made it as easy as possible for you to update to a new phone.

When I just got the new 12 pro...

1. power on new phone
2. after a couple questions on the new phone it asks to be held close to old phone.
3. Confirm on both phones that I want to transfer settings.
4. phones start to transfer info between themselves
5. during the transfer process it asked if I want to transfer watch also. (don't remember if this was on the phone or watch, and I think it was close to the end or after the end of the phone transfer)
6. Hit yes.
7. Watch transferred automatically from old phone to new.

 

[jz0309]

here is what Apple says:

Pair your Apple Watch with a new iPhone - Apple Support

Ready to get a new iPhone? Learn how to transfer your Apple Watch from your old iPhone to your new one.

support.apple.com