June 2 - Watchmaker Movado Group Inc posted a profit for the first quarter beating market estimates as its namesake and licensed brands flew off shelves both in its domestic and international markets.

Movado brand ambassador Amanda Seyfried

Movado, which distributes licensed brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss, also backed its full-year outlook, sending its shares up 3 percent in pre-market trade.

The company said its newer Movado Bold brand stayed popular with customers, boosting sales. Movado Bold is priced in the more affordable $300-$500 range to attract young and more trendy consumers.

"Continued excitement behind our Movado Bold product was a strong catalyst for growth of the Movado brand," Chief Executive Efraim Grinberg said in a statement.

Movado, which sells its products through department store chains and jewelry shops, said it expects to earn 60-65 cents a share for fiscal 2012.

Earlier this month, rival Fossil Inc also posted a market-beating first quarter as fashion consciousness among buyers increased.

Movado, whose brands also include Concord, Ebel and the namesake Movado, posted first-quarter net income of $0.5 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with loss of $12.4 million, or 50 cents per share, a year ago.

In the year-ago quarter, the company had a non-cash deferred tax expense provision of $2.5 million, or 10 cents per share.

Revenue for the latest February-April quarter rose 23.4 percent to $89.9 million.

Analysts on average had expected a loss of 3 cents a share, on revenue of $78.93 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the Paramus, New Jersey-based company closed at $16.10 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Arpita Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)