diff --git a/.versioneer-lookup b/.versioneer-lookup
index 02649029..33d99b95 100644
--- a/.versioneer-lookup
+++ b/.versioneer-lookup
@@ -15,5 +15,8 @@ master
 maintenance 1.2.6-dev 96fc70bdb2dd74ba04c3071f70da385b0408904a
 fix/.* 1.2.6-dev 96fc70bdb2dd74ba04c3071f70da385b0408904a
 
+# Special case disconnected checkouts, e.g. 'git checkout <tag>'
+(detached.*
+
 # every other branch is a development branch and thus gets resolved to 1.3.0-dev for now
 .* 1.3.0-dev 198d3450d94be1a2