diff --git a/lib/internal/main/watch_mode.js b/lib/internal/main/watch_mode.js
index dc8323a7c3b..6ccc90436e6 100644
--- a/lib/internal/main/watch_mode.js
+++ b/lib/internal/main/watch_mode.js
@@ -43,26 +43,11 @@ const argsWithoutWatchOptions = [];
 
 for (let i = 0; i < process.execArgv.length; i++) {
   const arg = process.execArgv[i];
-  if (StringPrototypeStartsWith(arg, '--watch=')) {
-    continue;
-  }
-  if (arg === '--watch') {
-    const nextArg = process.execArgv[i + 1];
-    if (nextArg && nextArg[0] !== '-') {
-      // If `--watch` doesn't include `=` and the next
-      // argument is not a flag then it is interpreted as
-      // the watch argument, so we need to skip that as well
-      i++;
-    }
-    continue;
-  }
-  if (StringPrototypeStartsWith(arg, '--watch-path')) {
-    const lengthOfWatchPathStr = 12;
-    if (arg[lengthOfWatchPathStr] !== '=') {
-      // if --watch-path doesn't include `=` it means
-      // that the next arg is the target path, so we
-      // need to skip that as well
-      i++;
+  if (StringPrototypeStartsWith(arg, '--watch')) {
+    i++;
+    const nextArg = process.execArgv[i];
+    if (nextArg && nextArg[0] === '-') {
+      ArrayPrototypePush(argsWithoutWatchOptions, nextArg);
     }
     continue;
   }
diff --git a/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs b/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs
index a2edbf1125a..bb8b8953514 100644
--- a/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs
+++ b/test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs
@@ -791,54 +791,4 @@ process.on('message', (message) => {
       `Completed running ${inspect(file)}. Waiting for file changes before restarting...`,
     ]);
   });
-
-  it('when multiple `--watch` flags are provided should run as if only one was', async () => {
-    const projectDir = tmpdir.resolve('project-multi-flag');
-    mkdirSync(projectDir);
-
-    const file = createTmpFile(`
-      console.log(
-        process.argv.some(arg => arg === '--watch')
-        ? 'Error: unexpected --watch args present'
-        : 'no --watch args present'
-      );`, '.js', projectDir);
-    const args = ['--watch', '--watch', file];
-    const { stdout, stderr } = await runWriteSucceed({
-      file, watchedFile: file, watchFlag: null, args, options: { cwd: projectDir }
-    });
-
-    assert.strictEqual(stderr, '');
-    assert.deepStrictEqual(stdout, [
-      'no --watch args present',
-      `Completed running ${inspect(file)}`,
-      `Restarting ${inspect(file)}`,
-      'no --watch args present',
-      `Completed running ${inspect(file)}`,
-    ]);
-  });
-
-  it('`--watch-path` ars without `=` used alongside `--watch` should not make it into the script', async () => {
-    const projectDir = tmpdir.resolve('project-watch-watch-path-args');
-    mkdirSync(projectDir);
-
-    const file = createTmpFile(`
-      console.log(
-        process.argv.slice(2).some(arg => arg.endsWith('.js'))
-        ? 'some cli args end with .js'
-        : 'no cli arg ends with .js'
-      );`, '.js', projectDir);
-    const args = ['--watch', `--watch-path`, file, file];
-    const { stdout, stderr } = await runWriteSucceed({
-      file, watchedFile: file, watchFlag: null, args, options: { cwd: projectDir }
-    });
-
-    assert.strictEqual(stderr, '');
-    assert.deepStrictEqual(stdout, [
-      'no cli arg ends with .js',
-      `Completed running ${inspect(file)}`,
-      `Restarting ${inspect(file)}`,
-      'no cli arg ends with .js',
-      `Completed running ${inspect(file)}`,
-    ]);
-  });
 });