diff --git a/pkg/tools/etcd_helper_watch.go b/pkg/tools/etcd_helper_watch.go
index 1a3fd1e74b3..356fbf9f57a 100644
--- a/pkg/tools/etcd_helper_watch.go
+++ b/pkg/tools/etcd_helper_watch.go
@@ -156,13 +156,22 @@ const watchWaitDuration = 100 * time.Millisecond
 // and a versioner, the versioner must be able to handle the objects that transform creates.
 func newEtcdWatcher(list bool, include includeFunc, filter FilterFunc, encoding runtime.Codec, versioner EtcdVersioner, transform TransformFunc, cache etcdCache) *etcdWatcher {
 	w := &etcdWatcher{
-		encoding:     encoding,
-		versioner:    versioner,
-		transform:    transform,
-		list:         list,
-		include:      include,
-		filter:       filter,
-		etcdIncoming: make(chan *etcd.Response),
+		encoding:  encoding,
+		versioner: versioner,
+		transform: transform,
+		list:      list,
+		include:   include,
+		filter:    filter,
+		// Buffer this channel, so that the etcd client is not forced
+		// to context switch with every object it gets, and so that a
+		// long time spent decoding an object won't block the *next*
+		// object. Basically, we see a lot of "401 window exceeded"
+		// errors from etcd, and that's due to the client not streaming
+		// results but rather getting them one at a time. So we really
+		// want to never block the etcd client, if possible. The 50 is
+		// arbitrary; there's a V(4) log message that prints the length
+		// so we can monitor how much of this buffer is actually used.
+		etcdIncoming: make(chan *etcd.Response, 50),
 		etcdError:    make(chan error, 1),
 		etcdStop:     make(chan bool),
 		outgoing:     make(chan watch.Event),
@@ -250,6 +259,10 @@ func (w *etcdWatcher) translate() {
 			return
 		case res, ok := <-w.etcdIncoming:
 			if ok {
+				if curLen := len(w.etcdIncoming); curLen > 0 {
+					// Monitor if this gets backed up, and how much.
+					glog.V(4).Infof("watch: %v objects queued in channel.", curLen)
+				}
 				w.sendResult(res)
 			}
 			// If !ok, don't return here-- must wait for etcdError channel