watch is set to USB Mode: Garmin.

That is the wrong one, set it to MTP.

I already tried both. In mtp mode the window with the content of a watch never appears.

And how come garmin mode is incorrect for using with Express?

Note, i tried connecting another watch, I used another cable and I used another PC. None of the above helps.

You can solve this by downloading the android open source ADB driver.

Search for universal ADB driver set up download it and install it, After that go into system properties search for the incorrect Garmin device right click on it select uninstall and delete the driver associated with it by ticking that box after you've done that right click in the system properties folder and click for search for changes the device will come up again with nothing installed after you've installed the ADB drivers do that again and then it will install it as a ADB device if it doesn't do that right click select driver choose driver as android adb device and make sure you select the USB option

no. it did not help either. 

my watch is seen in the list as ether mtp device or garmin gps device depending on the mode you chose, but express searches for it forever and no list of files is shown. Note theis is not the only laptop I have the issue with, and yes I tried different cables. 

Read the forum - Im, not the only one having this problem

idk who you are, but if you are a garmin support that is totally unacceptable. read the ticket carefully once again and report a bug in your jira or whatever you use for a dev team.

No, he's not Garmin support, this is mainly user to user help.