diff --git a/tools/watch/retrywatcher.go b/tools/watch/retrywatcher.go
index 8431d02f..d36d7455 100644
--- a/tools/watch/retrywatcher.go
+++ b/tools/watch/retrywatcher.go
@@ -128,6 +128,35 @@ func (rw *RetryWatcher) doReceive() (bool, time.Duration) {
 			return false, 0
 		}
 
+		// Check if the watch failed due to the client not having permission to watch the resource or the credentials
+		// being invalid (e.g. expired token).
+		if apierrors.IsForbidden(err) || apierrors.IsUnauthorized(err) {
+			// Add more detail since the forbidden message returned by the Kubernetes API is just "unknown".
+			klog.ErrorS(err, msg+": ensure the client has valid credentials and watch permissions on the resource")
+
+			if apiStatus, ok := err.(apierrors.APIStatus); ok {
+				statusErr := apiStatus.Status()
+
+				sent := rw.send(watch.Event{
+					Type:   watch.Error,
+					Object: &statusErr,
+				})
+				if !sent {
+					// This likely means the RetryWatcher is stopping but return false so the caller to doReceive can
+					// verify this and potentially retry.
+					klog.Error("Failed to send the Unauthorized or Forbidden watch event")
+
+					return false, 0
+				}
+			} else {
+				// This should never happen since apierrors only handles apierrors.APIStatus. Still, this is an
+				// unrecoverable error, so still allow it to return true below.
+				klog.ErrorS(err, msg+": encountered an unexpected Unauthorized or Forbidden error type")
+			}
+
+			return true, 0
+		}
+
 		klog.ErrorS(err, msg)
 		// Retry
 		return false, 0
diff --git a/tools/watch/retrywatcher_test.go b/tools/watch/retrywatcher_test.go
index 297661aa..873ce37e 100644
--- a/tools/watch/retrywatcher_test.go
+++ b/tools/watch/retrywatcher_test.go
@@ -288,6 +288,42 @@ func TestRetryWatcher(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:      "fails on Forbidden",
+			initialRV: "5",
+			watchClient: &cache.ListWatch{
+				WatchFunc: func() func(options metav1.ListOptions) (watch.Interface, error) {
+					return func(options metav1.ListOptions) (watch.Interface, error) {
+						return nil, apierrors.NewForbidden(schema.GroupResource{}, "", errors.New("unknown"))
+					}
+				}(),
+			},
+			watchCount: 1,
+			expected: []watch.Event{
+				{
+					Type:   watch.Error,
+					Object: &apierrors.NewForbidden(schema.GroupResource{}, "", errors.New("unknown")).ErrStatus,
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:      "fails on Unauthorized",
+			initialRV: "5",
+			watchClient: &cache.ListWatch{
+				WatchFunc: func() func(options metav1.ListOptions) (watch.Interface, error) {
+					return func(options metav1.ListOptions) (watch.Interface, error) {
+						return nil, apierrors.NewUnauthorized("")
+					}
+				}(),
+			},
+			watchCount: 1,
+			expected: []watch.Event{
+				{
+					Type:   watch.Error,
+					Object: &apierrors.NewUnauthorized("").ErrStatus,
+				},
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			name:      "recovers from timeout error",
 			initialRV: "5",