-
Maybe one of the Garmin 's' suffix watches? 265s is the current version. I think some of the older ones were slightly smaller. My other half is small (5'/153cm) with matching small wrists and wears a 255s all the time.
I think some of the Venu/'fashion' ones might seem smaller because of the styling. Places like Currys often display models which can be useful for trying out on your wrist.
Or you could get something without a display. Many years ago I had a GPS logger that I'd turn on and then it would log a point a second which I could later process however I wanted. Something like https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006718848923.html
Great and highly reasonable question! Couple reasons - first, my phone is old and slowly dying so having Strava etc running in the background can be flaky. No plans to upgrade until it actually dies and/or Apple brings out a new iPhone SE
Secondly, there’s times when I like to head out without a phone so not keen to tie myself to that. I often walk with my phone on me but buried on silent just as a backup so I can enjoy it without the lure of the screen, too.