diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/watcher/put_watch/90_ensure_watch_gets_overwritten_without_version.yml b/x-pack/plugin/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/watcher/put_watch/90_ensure_watch_gets_overwritten_without_version.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4bea2f655e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/src/test/resources/rest-api-spec/test/watcher/put_watch/90_ensure_watch_gets_overwritten_without_version.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+---
+"Test put watch api without version overwrites watch":
+  - do:
+      cluster.health:
+          wait_for_status: yellow
+
+  - do:
+      xpack.watcher.put_watch:
+        id: "my_watch"
+        body:  > 
+          {
+            "trigger": {
+              "schedule": {
+                "hourly": {
+                  "minute": [ 0, 5 ]
+                  }
+                }
+            },
+            "input": {
+              "simple": {
+                "foo": "bar"
+              }
+            },
+            "actions": {
+              "logging": {
+                "logging": {
+                  "text": "yaml test"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          }
+  - match: { _id: "my_watch" }
+
+  - do:
+      xpack.watcher.get_watch:
+        id: "my_watch"
+  - match: { watch.input.simple.foo: "bar" } 
+
+  # change the simple input fields, then ensure the old
+  # field does not exist on get
+  - do:
+      xpack.watcher.put_watch:
+        id: "my_watch"
+        body:  > 
+          {
+            "trigger": {
+              "schedule": {
+                "hourly": {
+                  "minute": [ 0, 5 ]
+                  }
+                }
+            },
+            "input": {
+              "simple": {
+                "spam": "eggs"
+              }
+            },
+            "actions": {
+              "logging": {
+                "logging": {
+                  "text": "yaml test"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          }
+  - match: { _id: "my_watch" }
+
+  - do:
+      xpack.watcher.get_watch:
+        id: "my_watch"
+  - match: { watch.input.simple.spam: "eggs" } 
+  - is_false: watch.input.simple.foo
+
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/transport/actions/put/TransportPutWatchAction.java b/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/transport/actions/put/TransportPutWatchAction.java
index 84efc215943..5be1236574f 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/transport/actions/put/TransportPutWatchAction.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/transport/actions/put/TransportPutWatchAction.java
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ package org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.transport.actions.put;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.DocWriteResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.index.IndexRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.index.IndexResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.support.ActionFilters;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.support.WriteRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateRequest;
@@ -89,18 +91,29 @@ public class TransportPutWatchAction extends WatcherTransportAction<PutWatchRequ
             try (XContentBuilder builder = jsonBuilder()) {
                 watch.toXContent(builder, DEFAULT_PARAMS);
 
-                UpdateRequest updateRequest = new UpdateRequest(Watch.INDEX, Watch.DOC_TYPE, request.getId());
-                updateRequest.docAsUpsert(isUpdate == false);
-                updateRequest.version(request.getVersion());
-                updateRequest.setRefreshPolicy(WriteRequest.RefreshPolicy.IMMEDIATE);
-                updateRequest.doc(builder);
+                if (isUpdate) {
+                    UpdateRequest updateRequest = new UpdateRequest(Watch.INDEX, Watch.DOC_TYPE, request.getId());
+                    updateRequest.version(request.getVersion());
+                    updateRequest.setRefreshPolicy(WriteRequest.RefreshPolicy.IMMEDIATE);
+                    updateRequest.doc(builder);
 
-                executeAsyncWithOrigin(client.threadPool().getThreadContext(), WATCHER_ORIGIN, updateRequest,
-                        ActionListener.<UpdateResponse>wrap(response -> {
+                    executeAsyncWithOrigin(client.threadPool().getThreadContext(), WATCHER_ORIGIN, updateRequest,
+                            ActionListener.<UpdateResponse>wrap(response -> {
+                                boolean created = response.getResult() == DocWriteResponse.Result.CREATED;
+                                listener.onResponse(new PutWatchResponse(response.getId(), response.getVersion(), created));
+                            }, listener::onFailure),
+                            client::update);
+                } else {
+                    IndexRequest indexRequest = new IndexRequest(Watch.INDEX, Watch.DOC_TYPE, request.getId());
+                    indexRequest.source(builder);
+                    indexRequest.setRefreshPolicy(WriteRequest.RefreshPolicy.IMMEDIATE);
+                    executeAsyncWithOrigin(client.threadPool().getThreadContext(), WATCHER_ORIGIN, indexRequest,
+                        ActionListener.<IndexResponse>wrap(response -> {
                             boolean created = response.getResult() == DocWriteResponse.Result.CREATED;
                             listener.onResponse(new PutWatchResponse(response.getId(), response.getVersion(), created));
                         }, listener::onFailure),
-                        client::update);
+                        client::index);
+                }
             }
         } catch (Exception e) {
             listener.onFailure(e);