diff --git a/mkdocs_simple_plugin/plugin.py b/mkdocs_simple_plugin/plugin.py
index 77f92ff3..ead817c1 100644
--- a/mkdocs_simple_plugin/plugin.py
+++ b/mkdocs_simple_plugin/plugin.py
@@ -329,7 +329,8 @@ def on_serve(self, server, *, config, builder):
         # watch the original docs/ directory
         if os.path.exists(self.orig_docs_dir):
             server.watch(self.orig_docs_dir)
-        server.watch(self.config["build_docs_dir"])
+        # don't watch the build directory
+        server.unwatch(self.config["build_docs_dir"])
 
         # watch all the doc files
         for path in self.paths: