diff --git a/pkg/cache/cache.go b/pkg/cache/cache.go
index 33804d4e7f..6347cb7394 100644
--- a/pkg/cache/cache.go
+++ b/pkg/cache/cache.go
@@ -170,6 +170,15 @@ type Options struct {
 	// instead of `reconcile.Result{}`.
 	SyncPeriod *time.Duration
 
+	// MinRewatchPeriod is the mininum rewatch period. If the watch request
+	// times out, the cache will close the watch and reconnect.
+	//
+	// We try to spread the load on apiserver by setting timeouts for
+	// watch requests - it is random in [MinRewatchPeriod, 2*MinRewatchPeriod].
+	//
+	// Defaults to 5 minutes if unset.
+	MinRewatchPeriod *time.Duration
+
 	// ReaderFailOnMissingInformer configures the cache to return a ErrResourceNotCached error when a user
 	// requests, using Get() and List(), a resource the cache does not already have an informer for.
 	//
@@ -383,6 +392,7 @@ func newCache(restConfig *rest.Config, opts Options) newCacheFunc {
 				WatchErrorHandler:     opts.DefaultWatchErrorHandler,
 				UnsafeDisableDeepCopy: ptr.Deref(config.UnsafeDisableDeepCopy, false),
 				NewInformer:           opts.newInformer,
+				MinWatchTimeout:       opts.MinRewatchPeriod,
 			}),
 			readerFailOnMissingInformer: opts.ReaderFailOnMissingInformer,
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/cache/internal/informers.go b/pkg/cache/internal/informers.go
index c270e809ca..1501723777 100644
--- a/pkg/cache/internal/informers.go
+++ b/pkg/cache/internal/informers.go
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ type InformersOpts struct {
 	Transform             cache.TransformFunc
 	UnsafeDisableDeepCopy bool
 	WatchErrorHandler     cache.WatchErrorHandler
+	MinWatchTimeout       *time.Duration
 }
 
 // NewInformers creates a new InformersMap that can create informers under the hood.
@@ -79,6 +80,7 @@ func NewInformers(config *rest.Config, options *InformersOpts) *Informers {
 		unsafeDisableDeepCopy: options.UnsafeDisableDeepCopy,
 		newInformer:           newInformer,
 		watchErrorHandler:     options.WatchErrorHandler,
+		minWatchTimeout:       options.MinWatchTimeout,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -147,6 +149,11 @@ type Informers struct {
 	// so that all informers will not send list requests simultaneously.
 	resync time.Duration
 
+	// minWatchTimeout is the minimum timeout period for watch requests
+	// We try to spread the load on apiserver by setting timeouts for
+	// watch requests - it is random in [minWatchTimeout, 2*minWatchTimeout].
+	minWatchTimeout *time.Duration
+
 	// mu guards access to the map
 	mu sync.RWMutex
 
@@ -354,6 +361,10 @@ func (ip *Informers) addInformerToMap(gvk schema.GroupVersionKind, obj runtime.O
 		WatchFunc: func(opts metav1.ListOptions) (watch.Interface, error) {
 			ip.selector.ApplyToList(&opts)
 			opts.Watch = true // Watch needs to be set to true separately
+			if ip.minWatchTimeout != nil {
+				watchTimeoutSeconds := int64(ip.minWatchTimeout.Seconds() * (rand.Float64() + 1.0)) //nolint:gosec
+				opts.TimeoutSeconds = &watchTimeoutSeconds
+			}
 			return listWatcher.WatchFunc(opts)
 		},
 	}, obj, calculateResyncPeriod(ip.resync), cache.Indexers{