diff --git a/tokio/src/sync/watch.rs b/tokio/src/sync/watch.rs
index 9e7cd1a7966..61307fce47d 100644
--- a/tokio/src/sync/watch.rs
+++ b/tokio/src/sync/watch.rs
@@ -359,7 +359,10 @@ mod state {
     use crate::loom::sync::atomic::AtomicUsize;
     use crate::loom::sync::atomic::Ordering::SeqCst;
 
-    const CLOSED: usize = 1;
+    const CLOSED_BIT: usize = 1;
+
+    // Using 2 as the step size preserves the `CLOSED_BIT`.
+    const STEP_SIZE: usize = 2;
 
     /// The version part of the state. The lowest bit is always zero.
     #[derive(Copy, Clone, Debug, Eq, PartialEq)]
@@ -378,31 +381,26 @@ mod state {
     pub(super) struct AtomicState(AtomicUsize);
 
     impl Version {
-        /// Get the initial version when creating the channel.
-        pub(super) fn initial() -> Self {
-            // The initial version is 1 so that `mark_changed` can decrement by one.
-            // (The value is 2 due to the closed bit.)
-            Version(2)
-        }
-
         /// Decrements the version.
         pub(super) fn decrement(&mut self) {
-            // Decrement by two to avoid touching the CLOSED bit.
-            if self.0 >= 2 {
-                self.0 -= 2;
-            }
+            // Using a wrapping decrement here is required to ensure that the
+            // operation is consistent with `std::sync::atomic::AtomicUsize::fetch_add()`
+            // which wraps on overflow.
+            self.0 = self.0.wrapping_sub(STEP_SIZE);
         }
+
+        pub(super) const INITIAL: Self = Version(0);
     }
 
     impl StateSnapshot {
         /// Extract the version from the state.
         pub(super) fn version(self) -> Version {
-            Version(self.0 & !CLOSED)
+            Version(self.0 & !CLOSED_BIT)
         }
 
         /// Is the closed bit set?
         pub(super) fn is_closed(self) -> bool {
-            (self.0 & CLOSED) == CLOSED
+            (self.0 & CLOSED_BIT) == CLOSED_BIT
         }
     }
 
@@ -410,7 +408,7 @@ mod state {
         /// Create a new `AtomicState` that is not closed and which has the
         /// version set to `Version::initial()`.
         pub(super) fn new() -> Self {
-            AtomicState(AtomicUsize::new(2))
+            AtomicState(AtomicUsize::new(Version::INITIAL.0))
         }
 
         /// Load the current value of the state.
@@ -420,13 +418,12 @@ mod state {
 
         /// Increment the version counter.
         pub(super) fn increment_version(&self) {
-            // Increment by two to avoid touching the CLOSED bit.
-            self.0.fetch_add(2, SeqCst);
+            self.0.fetch_add(STEP_SIZE, SeqCst);
         }
 
         /// Set the closed bit in the state.
         pub(super) fn set_closed(&self) {
-            self.0.fetch_or(CLOSED, SeqCst);
+            self.0.fetch_or(CLOSED_BIT, SeqCst);
         }
     }
 }
@@ -482,7 +479,7 @@ pub fn channel<T>(init: T) -> (Sender<T>, Receiver<T>) {
 
     let rx = Receiver {
         shared,
-        version: Version::initial(),
+        version: Version::INITIAL,
     };
 
     (tx, rx)