diff --git a/gerritlib/gerrit.py b/gerritlib/gerrit.py
index 8d2e7ac..d53f7db 100644
--- a/gerritlib/gerrit.py
+++ b/gerritlib/gerrit.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ class GerritWatcher(object):
 
     def __init__(
             self, gerrit, username=None, hostname=None, port=None,
-            keyfile=None):
+            keyfile=None, connection_attempts=-1, retry_delay=5):
         """Create a GerritWatcher.
 
         :param gerrit: A Gerrit instance to pass events to.
@@ -37,11 +37,15 @@ class GerritWatcher(object):
         All other parameters are optional and if not supplied are sourced from
         the gerrit instance.
         """
+        assert retry_delay >= 0, "Retry delay must be >= 0"
         self.username = username or gerrit.username
         self.keyfile = keyfile or gerrit.keyfile
         self.hostname = hostname or gerrit.hostname
         self.port = port or gerrit.port
         self.gerrit = gerrit
+        self.connection_attempts = int(connection_attempts)
+        self.retry_delay = float(retry_delay)
+        self.connected = False
 
     def _read(self, fd):
         l = fd.readline()
@@ -62,28 +66,89 @@ class GerritWatcher(object):
                     else:
                         raise Exception("event on ssh connection")
 
-    def _run(self):
-        try:
+    def _connect(self):
+        """Attempts to connect and returns the connected client."""
+
+        def _make_client():
             client = paramiko.SSHClient()
             client.load_system_host_keys()
             client.set_missing_host_key_policy(paramiko.WarningPolicy())
-            client.connect(self.hostname,
-                           username=self.username,
-                           port=self.port,
-                           key_filename=self.keyfile)
+            return client
 
-            stdin, stdout, stderr = client.exec_command("gerrit stream-events")
+        def _attempt_gen(connection_attempts, retry_delay):
+            if connection_attempts <= 0:
+                attempt = 1
+                while True:
+                    yield (attempt, retry_delay)
+                    attempt += 1
+            else:
+                for attempt in range(1, connection_attempts + 1):
+                    if attempt < connection_attempts:
+                        yield (attempt, retry_delay)
+                    else:
+                        # No more attempts left after this one, (signal this by
+                        # not returning a valid retry_delay).
+                        yield (attempt, None)
 
-            self._listen(stdout, stderr)
+        for (attempt, retry_delay) in _attempt_gen(self.connection_attempts,
+                                                   self.retry_delay):
+            self.log.debug("Connection attempt %s to %s:%s (retry_delay=%s)",
+                           attempt, self.hostname, self.port, retry_delay)
+            client = None
+            try:
+                client = _make_client()
+                client.connect(self.hostname,
+                               username=self.username,
+                               port=self.port,
+                               key_filename=self.keyfile)
+                return client
+            except (IOError, paramiko.SSHException) as e:
+                self.log.exception("Exception connecting to %s:%s",
+                                   self.hostname, self.port)
+                if client:
+                    try:
+                        client.close()
+                    except (IOError, paramiko.SSHException):
+                        self.log.exception("Failure closing broken client")
+                if retry_delay is not None:
+                    if retry_delay > 0:
+                        self.log.info("Trying again in %s seconds",
+                                      retry_delay)
+                        time.sleep(retry_delay)
+                else:
+                    raise e
 
-            ret = stdout.channel.recv_exit_status()
-            self.log.debug("SSH exit status: %s" % ret)
+    def _consume(self, client):
+        """Consumes events using the given client."""
+        stdin, stdout, stderr = client.exec_command("gerrit stream-events")
 
-            if ret:
-                raise Exception("Gerrit error executing stream-events")
+        self._listen(stdout, stderr)
+
+        ret = stdout.channel.recv_exit_status()
+        self.log.debug("SSH exit status: %s" % ret)
+
+        if ret:
+            raise Exception("Gerrit error executing stream-events:"
+                            " return code %s" % ret)
+
+    def _run(self):
+        self.connected = False
+        client = self._connect()
+        self.connected = True
+        try:
+            self._consume(client)
         except Exception:
-            self.log.exception("Exception on ssh event stream:")
-            time.sleep(5)
+            # NOTE(harlowja): allow consuming failures to *always* be retryable
+            self.log.exception("Exception consuming ssh event stream:")
+            if client:
+                try:
+                    client.close()
+                except (IOError, paramiko.SSHException):
+                    self.log.exception("Failure closing broken client")
+            if self.retry_delay > 0:
+                self.log.info("Delaying consumption retry for %s seconds",
+                              self.retry_delay)
+                time.sleep(self.retry_delay)
 
     def run(self):
         while True: