diff --git a/assets/chat/js/chat.js b/assets/chat/js/chat.js
index 2411c67c..c2418b53 100644
--- a/assets/chat/js/chat.js
+++ b/assets/chat/js/chat.js
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import {
 import ChatAutoComplete from './autocomplete';
 import ChatInputHistory from './history';
 import ChatUserFocus from './focus';
+import ChatWatchingFocus from './watching-focus';
 import ChatStore from './store';
 import Settings from './settings';
 import ChatWindow from './window';
@@ -103,7 +104,6 @@ class Chat {
     this.regexhighlightnicks = null;
     this.regexhighlightself = null;
     this.replyusername = null;
-    this.watchingfocus = false;
 
     // An interface to tell the chat to do things via chat commands, or via emit
     // e.g. control.emit('CONNECT', 'ws://localhost:9001') is essentially chat.cmdCONNECT('ws://localhost:9001')
@@ -290,6 +290,7 @@ class Chat {
     this.windowselect = this.ui.find('#chat-windows-select');
     this.inputhistory = new ChatInputHistory(this);
     this.userfocus = new ChatUserFocus(this, this.css);
+    this.watchingfocus = new ChatWatchingFocus(this.ui);
     this.mainwindow = new ChatWindow('main').into(this);
     this.mutedtimer = new MutedTimer(this);
     this.chatpoll = new ChatPoll(this);
@@ -368,13 +369,6 @@ class Chat {
       }
     });
 
-    // Watching focus
-    this.ui.on('click touch', '#chat-watching-focus-btn', () => {
-      this.watchingfocus = !this.watchingfocus;
-      this.ui.toggleClass('watching-focus', this.watchingfocus);
-      this.ui.find('#chat-watching-focus-btn').toggleClass('active');
-    });
-
     // Chat focus / menu close when clicking on some areas
     let downinoutput = false;
     this.output.on('mousedown', () => {
diff --git a/assets/chat/js/watching-focus.js b/assets/chat/js/watching-focus.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a06cf6f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/assets/chat/js/watching-focus.js
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+/**
+ * Handles the dimming of chat messages from users not watching the same embedded stream
+ */
+class ChatWatchingFocus {
+  constructor(ui) {
+    this.ui = ui;
+
+    // constant vars
+    this.watchingFocusClassName = 'watching-focus';
+    this.userFocusClassName = 'focus';
+    this.observer = new MutationObserver(this.mutationCallback);
+
+    // mutable class vars
+    this.watchingFocusActive = null;
+    this.lastClassState = null;
+
+    this.init();
+  }
+
+  // Initialize variables & methods
+  init() {
+    this.watchingFocusActive = false;
+    this.lastClassState = this.ui[0].classList.contains(
+      this.userFocusClassName,
+    );
+
+    // Start mutation observer
+    this.observe(this.ui[0]);
+
+    // Watching focus button action
+    this.ui.on('click touch', '#chat-watching-focus-btn', () =>
+      this.toggleWatchingFocus(),
+    );
+  }
+
+  observe(element) {
+    this.observer.observe(element, { attributes: true });
+  }
+
+  mutationCallback = (mutationsList) => {
+    for (const mutation of mutationsList) {
+      if (
+        mutation.type === 'attributes' &&
+        mutation.attributeName === 'class'
+      ) {
+        const currentClassState = mutation.target.classList.contains(
+          this.userFocusClassName,
+        );
+
+        // If focus status changed and watching focus is active, do stuff
+        if (this.lastClassState !== currentClassState) {
+          this.lastClassState = currentClassState;
+
+          // If 'focus' added to class list, disable 'watching-focus'
+          // else if 'focus' is removed, toggle 'watching-focus' according to previous boolean value
+          if (currentClassState) {
+            this.ui.removeClass(this.watchingFocusClassName);
+          } else {
+            this.ui.toggleClass(
+              this.watchingFocusClassName,
+              this.watchingFocusActive,
+            );
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  };
+
+  toggleWatchingFocus() {
+    this.watchingFocusActive = !this.watchingFocusActive;
+    this.ui.toggleClass(this.watchingFocusClassName, this.watchingFocusActive);
+    this.ui.find('#chat-watching-focus-btn').toggleClass('active');
+  }
+}
+
+export default ChatWatchingFocus;