diff --git a/src/core/load-fragment.c b/src/core/load-fragment.c
index 7c844a29df..18d9bb377c 100644
--- a/src/core/load-fragment.c
+++ b/src/core/load-fragment.c
@@ -6347,6 +6347,8 @@ int config_parse_watchdog_sec(
                 void *data,
                 void *userdata) {
 
+        usec_t *usec = data;
+
         assert(filename);
         assert(lvalue);
         assert(rvalue);
@@ -6354,12 +6356,12 @@ int config_parse_watchdog_sec(
         /* This is called for {Runtime,Reboot,KExec}WatchdogSec= where "default" maps to
          * USEC_INFINITY internally. */
 
-        if (streq(rvalue, "default")) {
-                usec_t *usec = data;
-
+        if (streq(rvalue, "default"))
                 *usec = USEC_INFINITY;
-                return 0;
-        }
+        else if (streq(rvalue, "off"))
+                *usec = 0;
+        else
+                return config_parse_sec(unit, filename, line, section, section_line, lvalue, ltype, rvalue, data, userdata);
 
-        return config_parse_sec(unit, filename, line, section, section_line, lvalue, ltype, rvalue, data, userdata);
+        return 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/core/main.c b/src/core/main.c
index 4b8e923a1e..6e01398523 100644
--- a/src/core/main.c
+++ b/src/core/main.c
@@ -544,6 +544,8 @@ static int parse_proc_cmdline_item(const char *key, const char *value, void *dat
 
                 if (streq(value, "default"))
                         arg_runtime_watchdog = USEC_INFINITY;
+                else if (streq(value, "off"))
+                        arg_runtime_watchdog = 0;
                 else {
                         r = parse_sec(value, &arg_runtime_watchdog);
                         if (r < 0) {
diff --git a/src/core/system.conf.in b/src/core/system.conf.in
index e88280bd0a..96fb64d2c1 100644
--- a/src/core/system.conf.in
+++ b/src/core/system.conf.in
@@ -29,9 +29,9 @@
 #CPUAffinity=
 #NUMAPolicy=default
 #NUMAMask=
-#RuntimeWatchdogSec=0
+#RuntimeWatchdogSec=off
 #RebootWatchdogSec=10min
-#KExecWatchdogSec=0
+#KExecWatchdogSec=off
 #WatchdogDevice=
 #CapabilityBoundingSet=
 #NoNewPrivileges=no