diff --git a/client/v3/watch.go b/client/v3/watch.go
index acec1ddf5..90f125ac4 100644
--- a/client/v3/watch.go
+++ b/client/v3/watch.go
@@ -541,6 +541,7 @@ func (w *watchGrpcStream) run() {
 	cancelSet := make(map[int64]struct{})
 
 	var cur *pb.WatchResponse
+	backoff := time.Millisecond
 	for {
 		select {
 		// Watch() requested
@@ -677,6 +678,7 @@ func (w *watchGrpcStream) run() {
 				closeErr = err
 				return
 			}
+			backoff = w.backoffIfUnavailable(backoff, err)
 			if wc, closeErr = w.newWatchClient(); closeErr != nil {
 				return
 			}
@@ -996,6 +998,21 @@ func (w *watchGrpcStream) joinSubstreams() {
 
 var maxBackoff = 100 * time.Millisecond
 
+func (w *watchGrpcStream) backoffIfUnavailable(backoff time.Duration, err error) time.Duration {
+	if isUnavailableErr(w.ctx, err) {
+		// retry, but backoff
+		if backoff < maxBackoff {
+			// 25% backoff factor
+			backoff = backoff + backoff/4
+			if backoff > maxBackoff {
+				backoff = maxBackoff
+			}
+		}
+		time.Sleep(backoff)
+	}
+	return backoff
+}
+
 // openWatchClient retries opening a watch client until success or halt.
 // manually retry in case "ws==nil && err==nil"
 // TODO: remove FailFast=false
@@ -1016,17 +1033,7 @@ func (w *watchGrpcStream) openWatchClient() (ws pb.Watch_WatchClient, err error)
 		if isHaltErr(w.ctx, err) {
 			return nil, v3rpc.Error(err)
 		}
-		if isUnavailableErr(w.ctx, err) {
-			// retry, but backoff
-			if backoff < maxBackoff {
-				// 25% backoff factor
-				backoff = backoff + backoff/4
-				if backoff > maxBackoff {
-					backoff = maxBackoff
-				}
-			}
-			time.Sleep(backoff)
-		}
+		backoff = w.backoffIfUnavailable(backoff, err)
 	}
 	return ws, nil
 }