diff --git a/.deadcode-out b/.deadcode-out
index 20f13a03a1..97093ce93b 100644
--- a/.deadcode-out
+++ b/.deadcode-out
@@ -50,9 +50,6 @@ forgejo.org/models/organization
 forgejo.org/models/perm/access
 	GetRepoWriters
 
-forgejo.org/models/repo
-	WatchRepoMode
-
 forgejo.org/models/user
 	IsErrUserWrongType
 	IsErrExternalLoginUserAlreadyExist
diff --git a/models/repo/watch.go b/models/repo/watch.go
index ceec20fdd6..3a20880a5c 100644
--- a/models/repo/watch.go
+++ b/models/repo/watch.go
@@ -194,6 +194,12 @@ func WatchIfAuto(ctx context.Context, userID, repoID int64) error {
 
 // UnwatchRepos will unwatch the user from all given repositories.
 func UnwatchRepos(ctx context.Context, userID int64, repoIDs []int64) error {
-	_, err := db.GetEngine(ctx).Where("user_id=?", userID).In("repo_id", repoIDs).Delete(&Watch{})
-	return err
+	// Unfortunatly, we can't simply delete the Watch records because we do watcher counting in the repo relation.
+	for _, repoID := range repoIDs {
+		err := WatchRepoMode(ctx, userID, repoID, WatchModeNone)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
 }
diff --git a/services/user/block_test.go b/services/user/block_test.go
index b9f23a7cda..f23a5cf91a 100644
--- a/services/user/block_test.go
+++ b/services/user/block_test.go
@@ -48,10 +48,17 @@ func TestBlockUser(t *testing.T) {
 		repo := unittest.AssertExistsAndLoadBean(t, &repo_model.Repository{OwnerID: doer.ID})
 		require.NoError(t, repo_model.WatchRepo(db.DefaultContext, blockedUser.ID, repo.ID, true))
 
+		repo = unittest.AssertExistsAndLoadBean(t, &repo_model.Repository{OwnerID: doer.ID})
+		oldNumWatchers := repo.NumWatches
+
 		require.NoError(t, BlockUser(db.DefaultContext, doer.ID, blockedUser.ID))
 
 		// Ensure blocked user isn't following doer's repository.
 		assert.False(t, repo_model.IsWatching(db.DefaultContext, blockedUser.ID, repo.ID))
+
+		// Ensure the watcher count was reduced by one.
+		repo = unittest.AssertExistsAndLoadBean(t, &repo_model.Repository{OwnerID: doer.ID})
+		require.Equal(t, oldNumWatchers-1, repo.NumWatches)
 	})
 
 	t.Run("Collaboration", func(t *testing.T) {