diff --git a/tokio/src/sync/watch.rs b/tokio/src/sync/watch.rs
index 5a46670eeeb..00344de71dc 100644
--- a/tokio/src/sync/watch.rs
+++ b/tokio/src/sync/watch.rs
@@ -377,13 +377,6 @@ mod state {
     #[derive(Debug)]
     pub(super) struct AtomicState(AtomicUsize);
 
-    impl Version {
-        /// Get the initial version when creating the channel.
-        pub(super) fn initial() -> Self {
-            Version(0)
-        }
-    }
-
     impl StateSnapshot {
         /// Extract the version from the state.
         pub(super) fn version(self) -> Version {
@@ -458,23 +451,8 @@ mod state {
 /// [`Sender`]: struct@Sender
 /// [`Receiver`]: struct@Receiver
 pub fn channel<T>(init: T) -> (Sender<T>, Receiver<T>) {
-    let shared = Arc::new(Shared {
-        value: RwLock::new(init),
-        state: AtomicState::new(),
-        ref_count_rx: AtomicUsize::new(1),
-        notify_rx: big_notify::BigNotify::new(),
-        notify_tx: Notify::new(),
-    });
-
-    let tx = Sender {
-        shared: shared.clone(),
-    };
-
-    let rx = Receiver {
-        shared,
-        version: Version::initial(),
-    };
-
+    let tx = Sender::new(init);
+    let rx = tx.subscribe();
     (tx, rx)
 }
 
@@ -854,6 +832,32 @@ impl<T> Drop for Receiver<T> {
 }
 
 impl<T> Sender<T> {
+    /// Creates the sending-half of the [`watch`] channel.
+    ///
+    /// See documentation of [`watch::channel`] for errors when calling this function.
+    /// Beware that attempting to send a value when no one subscribed to the channel will
+    /// return an error.
+    ///
+    /// [`watch`]: crate::sync::watch
+    /// [`watch::channel`]: crate::sync::watch
+    ///
+    /// # Examples
+    /// ```
+    /// let sender = tokio::sync::watch::Sender::new(0u8);
+    /// assert!(sender.send(3).is_err())
+    /// let _rec = sender.subscribe()
+    /// assert!(sender.send(4).is_ok())
+    /// ```
+    pub fn new(init: T) -> Self {
+        let shared = Arc::new(Shared {
+            value: RwLock::new(init),
+            state: AtomicState::new(),
+            ref_count_rx: AtomicUsize::new(0),
+            notify_rx: big_notify::BigNotify::new(),
+            notify_tx: Notify::new(),
+        });
+        Sender { shared }
+    }
     /// Sends a new value via the channel, notifying all receivers.
     ///
     /// This method fails if the channel is closed, which is the case when