diff --git a/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/watch/WatcherCleaner.java b/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/watch/WatcherCleaner.java
index c3b7e602f1c..80146200912 100644
--- a/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/watch/WatcherCleaner.java
+++ b/zookeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/zookeeper/server/watch/WatcherCleaner.java
@@ -158,13 +158,13 @@ public void run() {
                 cleaners.schedule(new WorkRequest() {
                     @Override
                     public void doWork() throws Exception {
+                        ServerMetrics.getMetrics().DEAD_WATCHERS_CLEARED.add(total);
+                        totalDeadWatchers.addAndGet(-total);
                         long startTime = Time.currentElapsedTime();
                         listener.processDeadWatchers(snapshot);
                         long latency = Time.currentElapsedTime() - startTime;
                         LOG.info("Takes {} to process {} watches", latency, total);
                         ServerMetrics.getMetrics().DEAD_WATCHERS_CLEANER_LATENCY.add(latency);
-                        ServerMetrics.getMetrics().DEAD_WATCHERS_CLEARED.add(total);
-                        totalDeadWatchers.addAndGet(-total);
                         synchronized (processingCompletedEvent) {
                             processingCompletedEvent.notifyAll();
                         }