diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/watchman/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/watchman/default.nix
index 7a042ac8bc73..c68683dbecb0 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/watchman/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/watchman/default.nix
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     "-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON"
     "-DENABLE_EDEN_SUPPORT=NO" # requires sapling (formerly known as eden), which is not packaged in nixpkgs
     "-DWATCHMAN_STATE_DIR=${stateDir}"
+    "-DWATCHMAN_VERSION_OVERRIDE=${version}"
   ] ++ lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [
     "-DCMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.14" # For aligned allocation
   ];