Apple watch 3 purchased (retail) in March for my daughter.  I understand this is an older model but it can still be purchased so expected it to have a reasonable term and level of support, it is Apple after all.  I knew it would not have the latest and greatest features, but it was suitable for what my teenager needed it for.  

About a month ago an update was published but was so large that the AW3 could not load it due to small memory capacity.  The internet was awash with solutions (which didn't work), the Apple solution being to completely restore the phone back to factory settings, install the update, then restore the watch from the backup.  Sounds simple, but actually took about 3 - 4 hours to achieve.   It's not like it could just be left overnight either, you have to keep interacting with the devices at different stages during the process.  I just about lost the will to live. 

Now the damn thing is showing another update, and you guessed it, it can't install because it doesn't have enough memory.  I am not sure I can face going through that update process again.  It says that things may not work if I don't run the update, and of course it keeps prompting to get it done, so its hard to ignore. 

Why are Apple still selling a product that fundamentally appears end of life? 

Is it reasonable to expect an update process that doesn't involve onerous hours of attention to resolve? 

I am considering taking this up with the retailer and/or Apple.  Part of me thinks that the product isn't fit for purpose and there is a CGA argument, the other part of me thinks that I knew it was an older model and didn't expect an intensive update programme.  If I could turn off the update permanently, and have confidence the watch would continue to fully function on the current software without issue for the next 2-3 years, I would be happy.  But that doesn't seem possible.