diff --git a/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_259.5.bb b/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_259.5.bb
index f3ec0edae7..8cb523a330 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_259.5.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-core/systemd/systemd_259.5.bb
@@ -253,6 +253,11 @@ WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT ??= "60"
 # and the watchdog is enabled. (defaults is no hardware watchdog use)
 WATCHDOG_RUNTIME_SEC ??= ""
 
+# If a different device, other then /dev/watchdog0 should be used, set
+# WATCHDOG_DEVICE_PATH to the full path to the watchdog device.
+# (Will set the WatchdogDevice= option in /etc/systemd/system.conf)
+WATCHDOG_DEVICE_PATH ??= ""
+
 do_install() {
 	meson_do_install
 
@@ -368,6 +373,11 @@ do_install() {
 			${D}/${sysconfdir}/systemd/system.conf
 	fi
 
+	if [ -n "${WATCHDOG_DEVICE_PATH}" ]; then
+		sed -i -e 's|#WatchdogDevice=|WatchdogDevice=${WATCHDOG_DEVICE_PATH}|' \
+			${D}/${sysconfdir}/systemd/system.conf
+	fi
+
 	# Actively disable Predictable Network Interface Names
 	if ! ${@bb.utils.contains('PACKAGECONFIG', 'pni-names', 'true', 'false', d)}; then
 		sed -i 's/^NamePolicy=.*/NamePolicy=/;s/^AlternativeNamesPolicy=.*/AlternativeNamesPolicy=/' ${D}${nonarch_libdir}/systemd/network/99-default.link