diff --git a/lisp/filenotify.el b/lisp/filenotify.el
index 08a6f6efb65..101ddb6be09 100644
--- a/lisp/filenotify.el
+++ b/lisp/filenotify.el
@@ -307,7 +307,10 @@ FILE is the name of the file whose event is being reported."
   (unless (functionp callback)
     (signal 'wrong-type-argument `(,callback)))
 
-  (let* ((handler (find-file-name-handler file 'file-notify-add-watch))
+  (let* ((quoted (file-name-quoted-p file))
+         (file (file-name-unquote file))
+         (file-name-handler-alist (if quoted nil file-name-handler-alist))
+         (handler (find-file-name-handler file 'file-notify-add-watch))
 	 (dir (directory-file-name
 	       (if (file-directory-p file)
 		   file