diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/transport/actions/activate/TransportActivateWatchAction.java b/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/transport/actions/activate/TransportActivateWatchAction.java
index 776c76524796b..7178773f61624 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/transport/actions/activate/TransportActivateWatchAction.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/transport/actions/activate/TransportActivateWatchAction.java
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ public class TransportActivateWatchAction extends WatcherTransportAction<Activat
     private final WatchParser parser;
     private final Client client;
     private final TriggerService triggerService;
+    private final ClusterService clusterService;
 
     @Inject
     public TransportActivateWatchAction(Settings settings, TransportService transportService, ThreadPool threadPool,
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@ public TransportActivateWatchAction(Settings settings, TransportService transpor
                 licenseState, clusterService, ActivateWatchRequest::new, ActivateWatchResponse::new);
         this.clock = clock;
         this.parser = parser;
+        this.clusterService = clusterService;
         this.client = client;
         this.triggerService = triggerService;
     }
@@ -95,7 +97,8 @@ protected void masterOperation(ActivateWatchRequest request, ClusterState state,
                                         XContentType.JSON);
                                 watch.version(getResponse.getVersion());
                                 watch.status().version(getResponse.getVersion());
-                                if (localExecute(request)) {
+                                // if we are not yet running in distributed mode, only call triggerservice, if we are on the master node
+                                if (localExecute(request) == false && this.clusterService.state().nodes().isLocalNodeElectedMaster()) {
                                     if (watch.status().state().isActive()) {
                                         triggerService.add(watch);
                                     } else {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/transport/actions/activate/TransportActivateWatchActionTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/transport/actions/activate/TransportActivateWatchActionTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..cfc26aaec1c0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/transport/actions/activate/TransportActivateWatchActionTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,188 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License;
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the Elastic License.
+ */
+package org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.transport.actions.activate;
+
+import org.elasticsearch.Version;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionListener;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.DocWriteResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.get.GetRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.get.GetResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.support.ActionFilters;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.support.PlainActionFuture;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.client.Client;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterName;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexNameExpressionResolver;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNode;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNodes;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.ClusterService;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ThreadContext;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.Index;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.get.GetResult;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
+import org.elasticsearch.license.XPackLicenseState;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
+import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
+import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.watcher.transport.actions.activate.ActivateWatchRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.watcher.transport.actions.activate.ActivateWatchResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.watcher.watch.ClockMock;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.watcher.watch.Watch;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.watcher.watch.WatchStatus;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.test.WatchExecutionContextMockBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.trigger.TriggerService;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.watch.WatchParser;
+import org.joda.time.DateTime;
+import org.joda.time.DateTimeZone;
+import org.junit.Before;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+
+import static java.util.Arrays.asList;
+import static org.mockito.Matchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Matchers.anyObject;
+import static org.mockito.Matchers.eq;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doAnswer;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoMoreInteractions;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+public class TransportActivateWatchActionTests extends ESTestCase {
+
+    private TransportActivateWatchAction action;
+    private Watch watch = new WatchExecutionContextMockBuilder("watch_id").buildMock().watch();
+    private ThreadContext threadContext = new ThreadContext(Settings.EMPTY);
+    private TriggerService triggerService = mock(TriggerService.class);
+    private ClusterService clusterService = mock(ClusterService.class);
+
+    @Before
+    public void setupAction() throws Exception {
+        ThreadPool threadPool = mock(ThreadPool.class);
+        when(threadPool.getThreadContext()).thenReturn(threadContext);
+
+        TransportService transportService = mock(TransportService.class);
+
+        WatchParser parser = mock(WatchParser.class);
+        when(parser.parseWithSecrets(eq("watch_id"), eq(true), anyObject(), anyObject(), anyObject())).thenReturn(watch);
+
+        Client client = mock(Client.class);
+        when(client.threadPool()).thenReturn(threadPool);
+
+        // mock an update response that calls the listener
+        doAnswer(invocation -> {
+            UpdateRequest request = (UpdateRequest) invocation.getArguments()[0];
+            ActionListener<UpdateResponse> listener = (ActionListener) invocation.getArguments()[1];
+
+            ShardId shardId = new ShardId(new Index(Watch.INDEX, "uuid"), 0);
+            listener.onResponse(new UpdateResponse(shardId, request.type(), request.id(), request.version(),
+                DocWriteResponse.Result.UPDATED));
+
+            return null;
+        }).when(client).update(any(), any());
+
+        // mock an get response that calls the listener
+        doAnswer(invocation -> {
+            GetRequest request = (GetRequest) invocation.getArguments()[0];
+            ActionListener<GetResponse> listener = (ActionListener) invocation.getArguments()[1];
+
+            GetResult getResult = new GetResult(request.index(), request.type(), request.id(), request.version(), true, null,
+                Collections.emptyMap());
+            listener.onResponse(new GetResponse(getResult));
+
+            return null;
+        }).when(client).get(any(), any());
+
+        action = new TransportActivateWatchAction(Settings.EMPTY, transportService, threadPool,
+            new ActionFilters(Collections.emptySet()), new IndexNameExpressionResolver(Settings.EMPTY), new ClockMock(),
+            new XPackLicenseState(Settings.EMPTY), parser, clusterService, client, triggerService);
+    }
+
+    // when running in distributed mode, watches are only triggered by the indexing operation listener
+    public void testWatchesAreNotTriggeredWhenDistributed() throws Exception {
+        boolean watchActivated = randomBoolean();
+        ActivateWatchRequest request = new ActivateWatchRequest("watch_id", watchActivated);
+        ActionListener<ActivateWatchResponse> listener = PlainActionFuture.newFuture();
+
+        // add a few nodes, with current versions
+        ClusterState clusterState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("my_cluster"))
+            .nodes(DiscoveryNodes.builder()
+                .masterNodeId("node_1")
+                .localNodeId(randomFrom("node_1", "node_2"))
+                .add(newNode("node_1", Version.CURRENT))
+                .add(newNode("node_2", Version.CURRENT)))
+            .build();
+        when(clusterService.state()).thenReturn(clusterState);
+        mockWatchStatus(watchActivated);
+
+        action.masterOperation(request, clusterState, listener);
+
+        verifyNoMoreInteractions(triggerService);
+    }
+
+    public void testWatchesAreNotTriggeredOnNonMasterWhenNotDistributed() throws Exception {
+        boolean watchActivated = randomBoolean();
+        ActivateWatchRequest request = new ActivateWatchRequest("watch_id", watchActivated);
+        ActionListener<ActivateWatchResponse> listener = PlainActionFuture.newFuture();
+
+        // add a few nodes, with current versions
+        ClusterState clusterState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("my_cluster"))
+            .nodes(DiscoveryNodes.builder()
+                .masterNodeId("node_2")
+                .localNodeId("node_1")
+                .add(newNode("node_1", Version.CURRENT))
+                .add(newNode("node_2", Version.V_5_6_10)))
+            .build();
+        when(clusterService.state()).thenReturn(clusterState);
+        mockWatchStatus(watchActivated);
+
+        action.masterOperation(request, clusterState, listener);
+
+        verifyNoMoreInteractions(triggerService);
+    }
+
+    // we trigger on the master node only, not on any other node
+    public void testWatchesAreTriggeredOnMasterWhenNotDistributed() throws Exception {
+        boolean watchActivated = randomBoolean();
+        ActivateWatchRequest request = new ActivateWatchRequest("watch_id", watchActivated);
+        ActionListener<ActivateWatchResponse> listener = PlainActionFuture.newFuture();
+
+        // add a few nodes, with current versions
+        ClusterState clusterState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("my_cluster"))
+            .nodes(DiscoveryNodes.builder()
+                .masterNodeId("node_1")
+                .localNodeId("node_1")
+                .add(newNode("node_1", Version.CURRENT))
+                .add(newNode("node_2", Version.V_5_6_10)))
+            .build();
+        when(clusterService.state()).thenReturn(clusterState);
+        mockWatchStatus(watchActivated);
+
+        action.masterOperation(request, clusterState, listener);
+
+        if (watchActivated) {
+            verify(triggerService).add(eq(watch));
+        } else {
+            verify(triggerService).remove(eq("watch_id"));
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void mockWatchStatus(boolean active) {
+        WatchStatus status = mock(WatchStatus.class);
+        WatchStatus.State state = new WatchStatus.State(active, DateTime.now(DateTimeZone.UTC));
+        when(status.state()).thenReturn(state);
+        when(watch.status()).thenReturn(status);
+    }
+
+    private static DiscoveryNode newNode(String nodeId, Version version) {
+        return new DiscoveryNode(nodeId, ESTestCase.buildNewFakeTransportAddress(), Collections.emptyMap(),
+            new HashSet<>(asList(DiscoveryNode.Role.values())), version);
+    }
+}