Henry Peverill, 72, had his lifelong collection taken during a burglary at his Banbury home in March 2014.
The watches surfaced in August when a man tried to sell them to a Cash Converters shop in Coventry.
Police seized the timepieces and later arrested and charged a 28-year-old man with handling stolen goods.
Officers were able to trace the watches back to Mr Peverill after a faint "OX" postcode was revealed on one of the watches using ultra-violet equipment.
Scott Sheldon, a builder from Whoberley, Coventry, was given a 16-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months after he pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods at Coventry Magistrates' Court.
An Oxfordshire man has been reunited with his stolen collection of over 100 pocket watches after they turned up in a pawnbrokers in the West Midlands.