diff --git a/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/election.go b/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/election.go
index fd9830edb35..868a2c53287 100644
--- a/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/election.go
+++ b/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/election.go
@@ -153,9 +153,7 @@ func (mp *cLeaderParticipation) WaitForNewLeader(ctx context.Context) (<-chan st
 	}
 
 	notifications := make(chan string, 8)
-	watchIndex := nextWatchIndex
-	nextWatchIndex++
-	n.watches[watchIndex] = watch{lock: notifications}
+	watchIndex := n.addWatch(watch{lock: notifications})
 
 	if n.lock != nil {
 		notifications <- n.lockContents
diff --git a/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/memorytopo.go b/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/memorytopo.go
index cdad2ddbcdd..504f1d4bd39 100644
--- a/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/memorytopo.go
+++ b/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/memorytopo.go
@@ -49,10 +49,6 @@ const (
 	UnreachableServerAddr = "unreachable"
 )
 
-var (
-	nextWatchIndex = 0
-)
-
 // Factory is a memory-based implementation of topo.Factory.  It
 // takes a file-system like approach, with directories at each level
 // being an actual directory node. This is meant to be closer to
@@ -206,6 +202,20 @@ func (n *node) propagateRecursiveWatch(ev *topo.WatchDataRecursive) {
 	}
 }
 
+var (
+	nextWatchIndex   = 0
+	nextWatchIndexMu sync.Mutex
+)
+
+func (n *node) addWatch(w watch) int {
+	nextWatchIndexMu.Lock()
+	defer nextWatchIndexMu.Unlock()
+	watchIndex := nextWatchIndex
+	nextWatchIndex++
+	n.watches[watchIndex] = w
+	return watchIndex
+}
+
 // PropagateWatchError propagates the given error to all watches on this node
 // and recursively applies to all children
 func (n *node) PropagateWatchError(err error) {
diff --git a/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/watch.go b/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/watch.go
index 14cb20bc09d..73b2d248434 100644
--- a/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/watch.go
+++ b/go/vt/topo/memorytopo/watch.go
@@ -50,9 +50,7 @@ func (c *Conn) Watch(ctx context.Context, filePath string) (*topo.WatchData, <-c
 	}
 
 	notifications := make(chan *topo.WatchData, 100)
-	watchIndex := nextWatchIndex
-	nextWatchIndex++
-	n.watches[watchIndex] = watch{contents: notifications}
+	watchIndex := n.addWatch(watch{contents: notifications})
 
 	go func() {
 		<-ctx.Done()
@@ -105,9 +103,7 @@ func (c *Conn) WatchRecursive(ctx context.Context, dirpath string) ([]*topo.Watc
 	})
 
 	notifications := make(chan *topo.WatchDataRecursive, 100)
-	watchIndex := nextWatchIndex
-	nextWatchIndex++
-	n.watches[watchIndex] = watch{recursive: notifications}
+	watchIndex := n.addWatch(watch{recursive: notifications})
 
 	go func() {
 		defer close(notifications)