Movado Group’s net sales totaled $118 million in the second quarter, a 4.2 percent increase from a year ago, and profits jumped 78 percent to $81 million.

“Our positive momentum continued in the second quarter driven by the ongoing success of our strategic initiatives, which fueled a solid increase in net sales, expansion in gross margin, and a more than doubling of operating income as compared to the second quarter last year,” said Efraim Grinberg, chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.

Gross profit was $65.8 million, or 55.7 percent of sales, compared to $60.9 million, or 53.8 percent of sales, in the second quarter last year.

The company’s net sales for the first half of the fiscal year increased 9.2 percent to $221.7 million, compared to $203.1 million in the same period last year. Net income in the first half totaled $14.7 million, compared to $4.9 million last year.

“More reflective of the strength of our business and the growing importance of our brands is our 15.1% increase in constant dollar sales, excluding the planned sales reduction in anticipation of our re-launch of Ebel and ESQ this fall,” said Rick Coté, president and chief operating officer, in a statement. “We believe we remain well positioned to deliver our fiscal 2013 objectives as we enter the second half of the year.”

Movado expects net sales to increase approximately 10 percent to $510 million, and net income is expected to increase approximately 45 percent to a range of $35.5 million to $36 million.

JCK