Waterford supplies the crystal panels for New York City’s Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball.
The Irish crystal maker became involved in 2000, when the ball was redesigned for the new millennium. Its panels create the ball’s distinctive reflective surface and have been replaced or rearranged as the design has evolved. The ball is lowered down a pole on the One Times Square building during the final minute of December 31.
The Times Square celebration began in 1904, while the first ball drop took place in 1907. The modern ball is much larger and more technically sophisticated than its early predecessors, using electric lighting and a programmable display. Waterford is the crystal supplier, not the ball’s operator; the event is organized by the Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment.