diff --git a/lib/server.js b/lib/server.js
index 045c4fee0..a804a4974 100644
--- a/lib/server.js
+++ b/lib/server.js
@@ -302,6 +302,11 @@ class Server extends KarmaEventEmitter {
         }
         executor.schedule()
       })
+
+      this.on('stop', function (done) {
+        this.log.debug('Exiting.')
+        return disconnectBrowsers().then(done)
+      })
     }
 
     const webServerCloseTimeout = 3000
@@ -327,7 +332,7 @@ class Server extends KarmaEventEmitter {
         done(code || 0)
       }
 
-      this.emitAsync('exit').then(() => {
+      return this.emitAsync('exit').then(() => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
         socketServer.sockets.removeAllListeners()
         socketServer.close()
         const closeTimeout = setTimeout(removeAllListeners, webServerCloseTimeout)
@@ -335,8 +340,9 @@ class Server extends KarmaEventEmitter {
         webServer.close(() => {
           clearTimeout(closeTimeout)
           removeAllListeners()
+          resolve()
         })
-      })
+      }))
     }
 
     processWrapper.on('SIGINT', () => disconnectBrowsers(process.exitCode))
@@ -373,6 +379,10 @@ class Server extends KarmaEventEmitter {
     child.unref()
   }
 
+  stop () {
+    return this.emitAsync('stop')
+  }
+
   static start (cliOptions, done) {
     console.warn('Deprecated static method to be removed in v3.0')
     return new Server(cliOptions, done).start()
diff --git a/test/unit/server.spec.js b/test/unit/server.spec.js
index fcd2f9b61..18e38a44a 100644
--- a/test/unit/server.spec.js
+++ b/test/unit/server.spec.js
@@ -152,6 +152,25 @@ describe('server', () => {
     })
   })
 
+  describe('start on watch mode', () => {
+    var config
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      config = { port: 9876, listenAddress: '127.0.0.1', singleRun: false }
+      sinon.spy(BundleUtils, 'bundleResourceIfNotExist')
+      sinon.stub(NetUtils, 'bindAvailablePort').resolves(mockBoundServer)
+      sinon.stub(mockBoundServer, 'address').returns({ port: 9877 })
+      sinon
+        .stub(server, 'get')
+        .withArgs('config').returns(config)
+    })
+
+    it('should exit gracefully', (done) => {
+      server.start()
+        .then(() => server.stop())
+        .then(() => done())
+    })
+  })
+
   // ============================================================================
   // server._start()
   // ============================================================================