Can i link my apple watch to my work phone

I never imagined this would be (so) hard.
- I have my (iPhone and) cell number on my work’s shared AT&T account.
- I have a separate personal AT&T account for my wife and kids and iPad. (I do not have a separate personal use only iPhone.)

I wish to add the Apple Watch to my personal account (done, $10/mo), BUT pair the watch to my work iPhone, so that my Watch can take calls from my work number. (Also, my ONLY cell number.)

The watch works fine if I pair with my wife’s iPhone... but after pairing with MY iPhone, the cellular component cann’t set up (“No SIM”) and error’s out (“phone on different account”).

I am the only one on the planet who thinks this should be easy?

Basically they are two different accounts. I don’t think it will work like that if I were you. Apple Watch shares your phone number to do everything related to SIM.

I never imagined this would be (so) hard.
- I have my (iPhone and) cell number on my work’s shared AT&T account.
- I have a separate personal AT&T account for my wife and kids and iPad. (I do not have a separate personal use only iPhone.)

I wish to add the Apple Watch to my personal account (done, $10/mo), BUT pair the watch to my work iPhone, so that my Watch can take calls from my work number. (Also, my ONLY cell number.)

The watch works fine if I pair with my wife’s iPhone... but after pairing with MY iPhone, the cellular component cann’t set up (“No SIM”) and error’s out (“phone on different account”).

I am the only one on the planet who thinks this should be easy?

If it a "managed" company phone, they can put restrictions on your phone to prevent you using the AW.

I never imagined this would be (so) hard.
- I have my (iPhone and) cell number on my work’s shared AT&T account.
- I have a separate personal AT&T account for my wife and kids and iPad. (I do not have a separate personal use only iPhone.)

I wish to add the Apple Watch to my personal account (done, $10/mo), BUT pair the watch to my work iPhone, so that my Watch can take calls from my work number. (Also, my ONLY cell number.)

The watch works fine if I pair with my wife’s iPhone... but after pairing with MY iPhone, the cellular component cann’t set up (“No SIM”) and error’s out (“phone on different account”).

I am the only one on the planet who thinks this should be easy?

Hate to break it to you sir, but we found out back at launch that anyone with an employer-paid account for their phone has no control over the account and therefore cannot attach the Watch add-on to the plan. Seems that Apple is ok with leaving money on the table by not having these customers (or they expect that such customers will not only pay for the Watch service fee but also go and get a personal phone account as well).

Bummer dude.

Well... Turns out my company is OK with adding the watch to the corporate account. End of story.

Shame though.

Hate to break it to you sir, but we found out back at launch that anyone with an employer-paid account for their phone has no control over the account and therefore cannot attach the Watch add-on to the plan. Seems that Apple is ok with leaving money on the table by not having these customers (or they expect that such customers will not only pay for the Watch service fee but also go and get a personal phone account as well).

Talk to management, if u are high enough on the food chain they might allow it.

Bummer dude.

Well... Turns out my company is OK with adding the watch to the corporate account. End of story.

Shame though.

If your company is OK with adding the watch to their corporate account then you can pair your watch to your corporate provided iPhone and have the full function of the watch sharing your company provided iPhone and it's phone number.

The key limitation / restriction is that the iPhone and paired (GPS + Cellular) watch must be on the same post-paid billing account to appear to share the iPhone's phone number on / with the watch. The watch actually has it's own unique phone number but for all calls made or received, they appear to be using your iPhone phone number this also apples to SMS/MMS Txts.

Not sure about your "Shame though.. comment unless you really meant that your company was "NOT OK" with adding the watch and paying for the $10 service plan for the watch on their corporate account.

Note: Note all corporate accounts are setup to support wearable devices but your account manager should be able to setup / enable the feature.

Dave