The latest Apple Watch iOS update changes the way you bring up Control Center. Prior, you would swipe-up on the Apple Watch screen to bring up Control Center and tap ping your iPhone icon.   1. Tap Apple Watch Side button.  

If your Apple Watch is showing unread message notifications but your iPhone does not have any unread messages, reboot both devices. It is likely you received a message with silent alerts enabled when you were not wearing your Apple Watch. It appears Apple Watch does not sync these messages correctly each time and shows them unread...