diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c6dc1e785..0974d5799 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## [1.4.15]
+
+* **fix(ibm-watsonx-s3): fail fast on precheck and guard bearer token JSON parsing**
+
 ## [1.4.14]
 
 * **fix(teradata): enable Unicode Pass Through on session to prevent Error 6705 on non-BMP characters**
diff --git a/test/unit/connectors/ibm_watsonx/test_ibm_watsonx_s3.py b/test/unit/connectors/ibm_watsonx/test_ibm_watsonx_s3.py
index b18f950ff..914932661 100644
--- a/test/unit/connectors/ibm_watsonx/test_ibm_watsonx_s3.py
+++ b/test/unit/connectors/ibm_watsonx/test_ibm_watsonx_s3.py
@@ -547,3 +547,53 @@ def test_ibm_watsonx_uploader_delete_cannot_delete(
         "Table doesn't contain expected record id column test_record_id_key, skipping delete"
         in caplog.text
     )
+
+
+def test_ibm_watsonx_generate_bearer_token_non_json_response(
+    mocker: MockerFixture,
+    connection_config: IbmWatsonxConnectionConfig,
+):
+    """response.json() failures are caught and re-raised via wrap_error."""
+    mock_response = mocker.MagicMock()
+    mock_response.raise_for_status.return_value = None
+    mock_response.json.side_effect = ValueError("No JSON object could be decoded")
+    mocker.patch("httpx.post", return_value=mock_response)
+    spy_wrap_error = mocker.spy(IbmWatsonxConnectionConfig, "wrap_error")
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        connection_config.generate_bearer_token()
+
+    spy_wrap_error.assert_called_once()
+
+
+def test_ibm_watsonx_connection_config_get_catalog_max_retries_override(
+    mocker: MockerFixture,
+    connection_config: IbmWatsonxConnectionConfig,
+):
+    """max_retries param overrides max_retries_connection; max_retries=1 means a single attempt."""
+    mock_load_catalog = mocker.patch(
+        "pyiceberg.catalog.load_catalog",
+        side_effect=RESTError("Connection error"),
+    )
+    mocker.patch.object(
+        IbmWatsonxConnectionConfig,
+        "bearer_token",
+        new="test_bearer_token",
+    )
+
+    with pytest.raises(ProviderError), connection_config.get_catalog(max_retries=1):
+        pass
+
+    # max_retries_connection fixture is 2, but max_retries=1 overrides to a single attempt
+    assert mock_load_catalog.call_count == 1
+
+
+def test_ibm_watsonx_uploader_precheck_calls_get_catalog_with_max_retries_1(
+    mock_get_catalog: MagicMock,
+    mock_catalog: MagicMock,
+    uploader: IbmWatsonxUploader,
+):
+    """precheck() passes max_retries=1 so connection errors surface immediately."""
+    uploader.precheck()
+
+    mock_get_catalog.assert_called_once_with(uploader.connection_config, max_retries=1)
diff --git a/unstructured_ingest/__version__.py b/unstructured_ingest/__version__.py
index b9997971a..b890013da 100644
--- a/unstructured_ingest/__version__.py
+++ b/unstructured_ingest/__version__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "1.4.14"  # pragma: no cover
+__version__ = "1.4.15"  # pragma: no cover
diff --git a/unstructured_ingest/processes/connectors/ibm_watsonx/ibm_watsonx_s3.py b/unstructured_ingest/processes/connectors/ibm_watsonx/ibm_watsonx_s3.py
index d418a8568..68866759b 100644
--- a/unstructured_ingest/processes/connectors/ibm_watsonx/ibm_watsonx_s3.py
+++ b/unstructured_ingest/processes/connectors/ibm_watsonx/ibm_watsonx_s3.py
@@ -132,9 +132,9 @@ def generate_bearer_token(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
         try:
             response = httpx.post(DEFAULT_IBM_CLOUD_AUTH_URL, headers=headers, data=data)
             response.raise_for_status()
+            return response.json()
         except Exception as e:
             raise self.wrap_error(e)
-        return response.json()
 
     def get_catalog_config(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
         return {
@@ -155,7 +155,9 @@ def get_catalog_config(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
 
     @requires_dependencies(["pyiceberg"], extras="ibm-watsonx-s3")
     @contextmanager
-    def get_catalog(self) -> Generator["RestCatalog", None, None]:
+    def get_catalog(
+        self, max_retries: Optional[int] = None
+    ) -> Generator["RestCatalog", None, None]:
         from pyiceberg.catalog import load_catalog
         from pyiceberg.exceptions import RESTError
         from tenacity import (
@@ -166,9 +168,11 @@ def get_catalog(self) -> Generator["RestCatalog", None, None]:
             wait_exponential,
         )
 
+        retries = max_retries if max_retries is not None else self.max_retries_connection
+
         # Retry connection in case of a connection error
         @retry(
-            stop=stop_after_attempt(self.max_retries_connection),
+            stop=stop_after_attempt(retries),
             wait=wait_exponential(exp_base=2, multiplier=1, min=2, max=10),
             retry=retry_if_exception_type(RESTError),
             before=before_log(logger, logging.DEBUG),
@@ -225,7 +229,9 @@ class IbmWatsonxUploader(SQLUploader):
     connector_type: str = CONNECTOR_TYPE
 
     def precheck(self) -> None:
-        with self.connection_config.get_catalog() as catalog:
+        # Use max_retries=1 (no retries) during precheck so a transient provider error
+        # surfaces quickly rather than blocking for the full exponential-backoff window.
+        with self.connection_config.get_catalog(max_retries=1) as catalog:
             if not catalog.namespace_exists(self.upload_config.namespace):
                 raise UserError(f"Namespace '{self.upload_config.namespace}' does not exist")
             if not catalog.table_exists(self.upload_config.table_identifier):