diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 536b89e10b6f..01f8efc42043 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -98,6 +98,9 @@ Main (unreleased)
 
 - Fixed a bug where UDP syslog messages were never processed (@joshuapare)
 
+- Fix a bug where reloading the configuration of a `loki.write` component lead
+  to a panic. (@tpaschalis)
+
 ### Enhancements
 
 - The `loki.write` WAL now has snappy compression enabled by default. (@thepalbi)
diff --git a/component/common/loki/wal/watcher_metrics.go b/component/common/loki/wal/watcher_metrics.go
index 697b111c69af..4064f8b22aac 100644
--- a/component/common/loki/wal/watcher_metrics.go
+++ b/component/common/loki/wal/watcher_metrics.go
@@ -80,13 +80,23 @@ func NewWatcherMetrics(reg prometheus.Registerer) *WatcherMetrics {
 	}
 
 	if reg != nil {
-		reg.MustRegister(m.recordsRead)
-		reg.MustRegister(m.recordDecodeFails)
-		reg.MustRegister(m.droppedWriteNotifications)
-		reg.MustRegister(m.segmentRead)
-		reg.MustRegister(m.currentSegment)
-		reg.MustRegister(m.watchersRunning)
+		m.recordsRead = mustRegisterOrGet(reg, m.recordsRead).(*prometheus.CounterVec)
+		m.recordDecodeFails = mustRegisterOrGet(reg, m.recordDecodeFails).(*prometheus.CounterVec)
+		m.droppedWriteNotifications = mustRegisterOrGet(reg, m.droppedWriteNotifications).(*prometheus.CounterVec)
+		m.segmentRead = mustRegisterOrGet(reg, m.segmentRead).(*prometheus.CounterVec)
+		m.currentSegment = mustRegisterOrGet(reg, m.currentSegment).(*prometheus.GaugeVec)
+		m.watchersRunning = mustRegisterOrGet(reg, m.watchersRunning).(*prometheus.GaugeVec)
 	}
 
 	return m
 }
+
+func mustRegisterOrGet(reg prometheus.Registerer, c prometheus.Collector) prometheus.Collector {
+	if err := reg.Register(c); err != nil {
+		if are, ok := err.(prometheus.AlreadyRegisteredError); ok {
+			return are.ExistingCollector
+		}
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	return c
+}