I’ve just recently updated my Series 3 to WatchOS 7.4 and 2 days later to 7.4.1 … yeah it took at least an hour for the minor and half an hour for the patch … in general both felt pretty slow but I didn’t need to reset/wipe anything in advance.
I wouldn’t buy a Series 3 today, as mentioned in the article: the price diff isn’t significant. Though updating the watchOS wasn’t such a bad experience as the author described it. Feels a bit like a rant post.
>>> I didn’t need to reset/wipe anything in advance
The probable explanation is that you have AW S3 Cellular model (which comes with 16Gb).
Usually it's next to impossible to update AW S3 (available at Apple Store) since it only has 8Gb without unpairing and resetting as the OS quickly builds up caches/system files which can't be removed by the user.
Hence, even if you didn't load anything (no apps or music, for instance), you'll have to go through the whole process.
>>> If you have Apple Watch Series 3, skip directly to the steps to unpair and update your Apple Watch [1].
Notice how Apple tells the users "don't even bother trying to clear up the storage" and directs to the unpairing process straight away.
I wouldn’t buy a Series 3 today, as mentioned in the article: the price diff isn’t significant. Though updating the watchOS wasn’t such a bad experience as the author described it. Feels a bit like a rant post.