--- title: See the 2015 Times Square New Years Eve Ball in One GIF description: The 11,875-pound ball is covered in 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles canonical: https://time.com/3649805/2015-new-years-eve-ball-times-square-gif/ author: TIME Photo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-30T20:07:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:13.579Z og:title: See the 2015 Times Square New Years Eve Ball in One GIF og:description: The 11,875-pound ball is covered in 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles og:url: https://time.com/3649805/2015-new-years-eve-ball-times-square-gif/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cce608ee52e4077/698777c206f2c1a317333285/nye-ball-drop-2014.gif?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: New Years Eve Times Square Ball Drop GIF og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the 2015 Times Square New Years Eve Ball in One GIF twitter:description: The 11,875-pound ball is covered in 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cce608ee52e4077/698777c206f2c1a317333285/nye-ball-drop-2014.gif?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See the 2015 Times Square New Years Eve Ball in One GIF by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Dec 30, 2014 8:07 PM UTC  Countdown Entertainment; GIF by Adam Glanzman for TIME by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Dec 30, 2014 8:07 PM UTC Every [New Year’s Eve](http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/free-things-to-do-on-new-years-eve) brings a new ball to New York City’s Times Square. The tradition began in 1907 and remains one of the world’s most iconic spectacles at the turn of the new year. This year’s design is called The Gift of Fortitude. The design utilizes “diamond cuts on either side of a crystal pillar to represent the inner attributes of resolve, courage and spirit necessary to triumph over adversity,” according to the Times Square Ball’s official [website](http://timessquareball.net/). The ball is illuminated by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LED lights and can display more than 16 million vibrant colors in billions of patterns. ### See Photos of the Times Square New Year's Ball Through History  Technicians eye the new improved New Years ball, with halogen lamps for greater visibility, in New York City in 1978. Chester Higgins Jr.—The New York Times/Redux  New York City Mayor Ed Koch gives the thumbs up sign as he flips a switch to test the Big Apple Ball on Dec. 24, 1981 in New York City. Marty Lederhandler—AP  Jason Samuels, an electrician with signmaker Artkraft Strauss, checks the connections on a lighted ball at the company's shop in New York City, Dec. 22, 1994. Jon Simon—AP  Times Square Business Improvement District President Brendan Sexton, left, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, second from left, actor and Chairman of New York City 2000 Ron Silver, right rear, and President of Countdown Entertainment Jeffrey A. Straus, right, make a toast at a press conference in New York City on, Dec. 28, 1998. Marty Lederhandler—AP  The New York Times Square Ball sits atop 1 Times Square during its test lighting in preparation for the Times Square 2000 celebration, Dec. 30, 1999. Timothy A. Clary—AFP/Getty Images  Peter Gravagna (L), Raymond Nieves (C) and Felix Ortega (R), of Landmark Signs, install light bulbs on the New Year's Eve Ball in New York City on Dec. 28, 2001. Stan Honda—AFP/Getty Images  Workers test a giant 1,070-pound, six-foot diameter Waterford Crystal ball, in New York City on Dec. 30, 2003. Jeff Christensen—Reuters  A workman installs one of 72 new Waterford Crystal triangles, featuring the "Hope for Fellowship" design, on the exterior of the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball in New York City on Dec. 28, 2005. Stan Honda—AFP/Getty Images  The New Year's Eve Ball is displayed at the Macy's Store in Herald Square before moving to Times Square for New Years celebrations, in New York City on Nov. 5, 2008. Jeff Zelevansky—Getty Images  The Waterford Crystal ball in place and ready for the New Year's celebration in New York City on Dec. 30, 2009. Ozier Muhammad—The New York Times/Redux  Fireworks explode as the Waterford crystal ball is raised at the beginning of Times Square New Year's celebration in New York City on Dec. 31, 2012. Mary Altaffer—AP  A view of the general atmosphere at the 2014 New Year's Eve Philips Ball Test at One Times Square in New York City on Dec. 30, 2013. Desiree Navarro—WireImage/Getty Imges ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3649805/2015-new-years-eve-ball-times-square-gif/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3649805/2015-new-years-eve-ball-times-square-gif/"},"headline":"See the 2015 Times Square New Years Eve Ball in One GIF","datePublished":"2014-12-30T20:07:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:13.579Z","description":"The 11,875-pound ball is covered in 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles","url":"https://time.com/3649805/2015-new-years-eve-ball-times-square-gif/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre","New York City","Times Square","new years eve","New Year"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cce608ee52e4077/698777c206f2c1a317333285/nye-ball-drop-2014.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Photo","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-photo/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cce608ee52e4077/698777c206f2c1a317333285/nye-ball-drop-2014.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New Years Eve Times Square Ball Drop GIF","caption":"New Years Eve Times Square Ball Drop GIF","creditText":"Countdown Entertainment; GIF by Adam Glanzman for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3649805/2015-new-years-eve-ball-times-square-gif/","name":"See the 2015 Times Square New Years Eve Ball in One GIF"}}]}] ```