Luxury jeweler and watchmaker Harry Winston Diamond Corp's quarterly profit more than tripled as it sold more rough diamonds, and the company said it expects global demand for luxury jewelry and watches to rise.

Photo: Harry Winston Diamonds

First-quarter net income rose to $11.6 million, or 14 cents per share, from $3.6 million, or 4 cents per share, a year ago.

Sales rose 33.8 percent to $192.5 million. Sales from the company's mining segment, which mines and sells rough diamonds, jumped 43 percent to $89 million.

Harry Winston maintained its forecast for 2012 rough diamond production of 8.3 million carats from its Diavik mine in Canada.

The company owns a 40 percent stake in the Diavik diamond mine located in the country's North Slave region a few hundred kilometers south of the Arctic Circle.

Shares of Toronto-based Harry Winston closed at C$12.84 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday.