diff --git a/app/models/user_preference.rb b/app/models/user_preference.rb
index e1842b131..fc1c3829b 100644
--- a/app/models/user_preference.rb
+++ b/app/models/user_preference.rb
@@ -59,7 +59,8 @@ class UserPreference < ApplicationRecord
         self.no_self_notified = Setting.default_users_no_self_notified
       end
       unless attributes && attributes.key?(:auto_watch_on)
-        self.auto_watch_on = AUTO_WATCH_ON_OPTIONS
+        value = Setting.default_users_auto_watch_on
+        self.auto_watch_on = value.nil? ? AUTO_WATCH_ON_OPTIONS : value
       end
     end
     self.others ||= {}
diff --git a/app/views/settings/_users.html.erb b/app/views/settings/_users.html.erb
index 3482b22d6..cc40dec58 100644
--- a/app/views/settings/_users.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/settings/_users.html.erb
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
       <p><%= setting_select(:default_notification_option, User.valid_notification_options.collect {|o| [l(o.last), o.first.to_s]}) %></p>
       <p><%= setting_check_box :default_users_no_self_notified, :label => :label_user_mail_no_self_notified %></p>
       <p><%= setting_select :default_users_time_zone, ActiveSupport::TimeZone.all.collect {|z| [ z.to_s, z.name ]}, :label => :field_time_zone, :blank => :label_none %></p>
+      <p><%= setting_multiselect :default_users_auto_watch_on, UserPreference::AUTO_WATCH_ON_OPTIONS.map {|o| [l("label_auto_watch_on_#{o}"), o]}, :label => :label_auto_watch_on %></p>
     </div>
   </fieldset>
 
diff --git a/config/settings.yml b/config/settings.yml
index b1217fc0a..753cd5b49 100644
--- a/config/settings.yml
+++ b/config/settings.yml
@@ -301,6 +301,11 @@ default_users_no_self_notified:
   default: 1
 default_users_time_zone:
   default: ""
+default_users_auto_watch_on:
+  serialized: true
+  default:
+  - issue_created
+  - issue_contributed_to
 # encodings used to convert files content to UTF-8
 # multiple values accepted, comma separated
 repositories_encodings:
diff --git a/test/unit/user_preference_test.rb b/test/unit/user_preference_test.rb
index 1eea63917..fd51b1d9f 100644
--- a/test/unit/user_preference_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/user_preference_test.rb
@@ -56,8 +56,21 @@ class UserPreferenceTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
   end
 
   def test_auto_watch_on_should_default_to_setting
-    preference = UserPreference.new
-    assert_equal %w[issue_created issue_contributed_to], preference.auto_watch_on
+    with_settings :default_users_auto_watch_on => ['issue_created'] do
+      preference = UserPreference.new
+      assert_equal ['issue_created'], preference.auto_watch_on
+    end
+    with_settings :default_users_auto_watch_on => [] do
+      preference = UserPreference.new
+      assert_equal [], preference.auto_watch_on
+    end
+  end
+
+  def test_auto_watch_on_should_default_to_options
+    with_settings :default_users_auto_watch_on => nil do
+      preference = UserPreference.new
+      assert_equal %w[issue_created issue_contributed_to], preference.auto_watch_on
+    end
   end
 
   def test_create