The Times Square New Year's Eve Ball is covered with 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles.
The triangles form the Ball's faceted outer surface and are arranged on a geodesic sphere. Waterford, the Irish crystal maker, has supplied the decorative panels for the modern Ball since 2000, when the celebration adopted a millennium-themed design.
The Ball itself descends from a signaling ball installed atop the former New York Times building in 1907. That first Ball was made of iron and wood and lit with electric bulbs. The tradition continued even though the newspaper later moved away from the building, and the Ball has been redesigned several times.
The number 2,688 refers to the crystal triangles, not the light-emitting diodes inside them or the Ball's total weight. The current Ball is 12 feet in diameter and weighs nearly six tons. Its annual descent ends at midnight on January 1, watched by crowds in Times Square and viewers around the world.