diff --git a/src/watch.ts b/src/watch.ts
index 4c51399a62..7664b07291 100644
--- a/src/watch.ts
+++ b/src/watch.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { KubeConfig } from './config.js';
 export class Watch {
     public static SERVER_SIDE_CLOSE: object = { error: 'Connection closed on server' };
     public config: KubeConfig;
+    private requestTimeoutMs: number = 30000;
 
     public constructor(config: KubeConfig) {
         this.config = config;
@@ -39,9 +40,8 @@ export class Watch {
         const requestInit = await this.config.applyToFetchOptions({});
 
         const controller = new AbortController();
-        const timeoutSignal = AbortSignal.timeout(30000);
+        const timeoutSignal = AbortSignal.timeout(this.requestTimeoutMs);
         requestInit.signal = AbortSignal.any([controller.signal, timeoutSignal]);
-        requestInit.signal = controller.signal as AbortSignal;
         requestInit.method = 'GET';
 
         let doneCalled: boolean = false;
diff --git a/src/watch_test.ts b/src/watch_test.ts
index 5bf842565d..d690bb8c1a 100644
--- a/src/watch_test.ts
+++ b/src/watch_test.ts
@@ -452,6 +452,39 @@ describe('Watch', () => {
         s.done();
     });
 
+    it('should timeout when server takes too long to respond', async (t) => {
+        const kc = await setupMockSystem(t, (_req: any, _res: any) => {
+            // Don't respond - simulate a hanging server
+        });
+        const watch = new Watch(kc);
+
+        // NOTE: Hack around the type system to make the timeout shorter
+        (watch as any).requestTimeoutMs = 1;
+
+        let doneErr: any;
+
+        let doneResolve: () => void;
+        const donePromise = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
+            doneResolve = resolve;
+        });
+
+        await watch.watch(
+            '/some/path/to/object',
+            {},
+            () => {
+                throw new Error('Unexpected data received - timeout should have occurred before any data');
+            },
+            (err: any) => {
+                doneErr = err;
+                doneResolve();
+            },
+        );
+
+        await donePromise;
+
+        strictEqual(doneErr.name, 'AbortError');
+    });
+
     it('should throw on empty config', async () => {
         const kc = new KubeConfig();
         const watch = new Watch(kc);