diff --git a/pkg/watcher/pubspec.yaml b/pkg/watcher/pubspec.yaml
index a0e0ce4e2dc..adf8ddb6f85 100644
--- a/pkg/watcher/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/pkg/watcher/pubspec.yaml
@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@ dev_dependencies:
   scheduled_test: ">=0.9.3-dev <0.11.0"
   unittest: ">=0.9.2 <0.10.0"
 environment:
-  sdk: ">=1.3.0 <2.0.0"
+  sdk: ">=1.6.0 <2.0.0"
diff --git a/runtime/bin/file_system_watcher_macos.cc b/runtime/bin/file_system_watcher_macos.cc
index 88d98d40d43..93177f2ea5a 100644
--- a/runtime/bin/file_system_watcher_macos.cc
+++ b/runtime/bin/file_system_watcher_macos.cc
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ class FSEventsWatcher {
           array,
           kFSEventStreamEventIdSinceNow,
           0.10,
-          kFSEventStreamCreateFlagNoDefer | kFSEventStreamCreateFlagFileEvents);
+          kFSEventStreamCreateFlagFileEvents);
       CFRelease(array);
 
       node->set_ref(ref);