The 35-year-old missed the opening match in Hamilton with a hamstring niggle.
"It seems to be progressing pretty well," he told media yesterday.
"I’ve been through a few fitness tests and did a bit of training last week during the test match and it seems to have pulled up pretty good, so we’ll see how the next few days go."
The home side notched an impressive win and will go into the game at the Basin Reserve starting on Friday with confidence.
Tom Blundell took the gloves in Watling’s absence and Will Young was called into the side and opened the batting alongside Tom Latham.
If Watling is fit, the Black Caps will have a selection dilemma but will probably revert to the status quo.
Watling adds considerable batting strength to the middle order and Blundell has performed well during his brief stint at the top of the order.
Watling was thrilled with how the Black Caps played in the opener.
"Being put in on a pretty green wicket and for the boys to score 520-odd, and obviously Kane did his thing and everyone chipped in around it; it was very pleasing," he said.
"It is always tough to ask teams to follow on and you could start to see that wicket starting to flatten out.
"I thought the boys toiled away brilliantly and to win the game inside four days is a good effort."
Black Caps captain Kane Williamson scored a career-best 251 to set up the win. That knock has enabled the 30-year-old right-hander to climb the ICC test batting ranks.
He has overhauled Australian Marnus Labuschangne and joined Indian Virat Kohli in second spot.
Australian skipper Steve Smith has a mortgage on the top spot but Williamson can move ahead of Kohli with a good performance in Wellington.
Black Caps opener Latham has climbed to a career-high 10th spot following his patient innings of 86 at Seddon Park.
Black Caps left-armer Neil Wagner is up to second as well, while Tim Southee remains in fourth place.
Watling was not aware of the latest rankings but it did not come as a surprise they had moved up the list.
"That comes with the performances we’ve been putting on the board for a really long period of time," he commented.
That said, he indicated the focus was very much on doing well in the next three tests and pushing for a spot in the World Test Championship final.
"This side is going very well at the moment. We’ve all played together for a reasonably long period of time now and I guess that is a testament to the way we’ve been able to play during the last few years.
"We’re just going to look to keep improving and I don’t like rank any sort of side," he said when asked how the side compares with some of its predecessors.
West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach and wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich have been ruled out of the second test and are to return home, Reuters reports.
Roach’s father died shortly before the first test in Hamilton.
Dowrich suffered a finger injury on the first day of the match at Seddon Park and was unable to bat in either innings but the team said the wicketkeeper was being released for "personal reasons".
Top-order batsman Shimron Hetmyer is also doubtful for selection as he is undergoing concussion protocols after being struck by a delivery during the twenty20 series.
All-rounder Keemo Paul is still having treatment for a groin injury.
Uncapped wicketkeeper Joshua Da Silva, one of the wider squad players on stand-by in New Zealand, had been added to the 14-man test squad, the team said.
