Preserving WatchOS 9 with iOS 17?

I bought the new iPhone 15; still waiting on it due to a messy preorder (and cancellation since I could get the phone faster by reordering it) and now I am waiting on the delivery. I didn't need my watch, so I unpaired my S8 Watch from my iPhone 12 so I can just pair it to the new phone. The thing is since I kept my 12 at iOS 16, my watch is forever on WatchOS 9 until I have to update it to 10. I did run the security update that came out for both devices, but I'm not on iOS 17 yet with this 12 and didn't update it because of the concerns I have about major iOS upgrades on old phones until it's mature.

Is it possible to keep my Watch at WatchOS 9 even after pairing it to my new phone with iOS 17?