diff --git a/etcdctl/ctlv3/command/global.go b/etcdctl/ctlv3/command/global.go
index 825e28391177..920635e2a7ea 100644
--- a/etcdctl/ctlv3/command/global.go
+++ b/etcdctl/ctlv3/command/global.go
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ type GlobalFlags struct {
 	InsecureSkipVerify bool
 	InsecureDiscovery  bool
 	Endpoints          []string
+	RequireLeader      bool
 	DialTimeout        time.Duration
 	CommandTimeOut     time.Duration
 	KeepAliveTime      time.Duration
@@ -382,3 +383,11 @@ func endpointsFromFlagValue(cmd *cobra.Command) ([]string, error) {
 	}
 	return ret, err
 }
+
+func requireLeaderFromCmd(cmd *cobra.Command) bool {
+	req, err := cmd.Flags().GetBool("require-leader")
+	if err != nil {
+		ExitWithError(ExitBadArgs, err)
+	}
+	return req
+}
diff --git a/etcdctl/ctlv3/command/watch_command.go b/etcdctl/ctlv3/command/watch_command.go
index 4adf547e9cdd..8069f4d72e00 100644
--- a/etcdctl/ctlv3/command/watch_command.go
+++ b/etcdctl/ctlv3/command/watch_command.go
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ func watchCommandFunc(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 	}
 
 	c := mustClientFromCmd(cmd)
-	wc, err := getWatchChan(c, args)
+	reqLeader := requireLeaderFromCmd(cmd)
+	wc, err := getWatchChan(c, reqLeader, args)
 	if err != nil {
 		ExitWithError(ExitBadArgs, err)
 	}
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ func watchCommandFunc(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 
 func watchInteractiveFunc(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 	c := mustClientFromCmd(cmd)
+	reqLeader := requireLeaderFromCmd(cmd)
 
 	reader := bufio.NewReader(os.Stdin)
 
@@ -98,7 +100,7 @@ func watchInteractiveFunc(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Invalid command %s (%v)\n", l, err)
 			continue
 		}
-		ch, err := getWatchChan(c, flagset.Args())
+		ch, err := getWatchChan(c, reqLeader, flagset.Args())
 		if err != nil {
 			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Invalid command %s (%v)\n", l, err)
 			continue
@@ -107,7 +109,7 @@ func watchInteractiveFunc(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 	}
 }
 
-func getWatchChan(c *clientv3.Client, args []string) (clientv3.WatchChan, error) {
+func getWatchChan(c *clientv3.Client, requireLeader bool, args []string) (clientv3.WatchChan, error) {
 	if len(args) < 1 || len(args) > 2 {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("bad number of arguments")
 	}
@@ -125,7 +127,11 @@ func getWatchChan(c *clientv3.Client, args []string) (clientv3.WatchChan, error)
 	if watchPrevKey {
 		opts = append(opts, clientv3.WithPrevKV())
 	}
-	return c.Watch(context.TODO(), key, opts...), nil
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	if requireLeader {
+		ctx = clientv3.WithRequireLeader(ctx)
+	}
+	return c.Watch(ctx, key, opts...), nil
 }
 
 func printWatchCh(ch clientv3.WatchChan) {
diff --git a/etcdctl/ctlv3/ctl.go b/etcdctl/ctlv3/ctl.go
index 8692084cfcdf..ad27c15e2a59 100644
--- a/etcdctl/ctlv3/ctl.go
+++ b/etcdctl/ctlv3/ctl.go
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ func init() {
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVar(&globalFlags.Insecure, "insecure-transport", true, "disable transport security for client connections")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVar(&globalFlags.InsecureDiscovery, "insecure-discovery", true, "accept insecure SRV records describing cluster endpoints")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVar(&globalFlags.InsecureSkipVerify, "insecure-skip-tls-verify", false, "skip server certificate verification")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVar(&globalFlags.RequireLeader, "require-leader", false, "require client requests to only succeed when the cluster has a leader (only available for watch)")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&globalFlags.TLS.CertFile, "cert", "", "identify secure client using this TLS certificate file")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&globalFlags.TLS.KeyFile, "key", "", "identify secure client using this TLS key file")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&globalFlags.TLS.CAFile, "cacert", "", "verify certificates of TLS-enabled secure servers using this CA bundle")