<P> In honor of the ball drop's centennial anniversary, a brand new fifth design debuted for New Year's Eve 2008 . Once again manufactured by Waterford Crystal with a diameter of 6 feet (1.8 m), but weighing 1,212 pounds (550 kg), it used LED lamps provided by Philips (which can produce 16,777,216 or 2 colors), with computerized lighting patterns developed by the New York City - based lighting firm Focus Lighting . The ball featured 9,576 energy - efficient bulbs that consumed the same amount of electricity as only 10 toasters . The 2008 ball was only used once, and was placed on display at the Times Square Visitors Center following the event . </P> <P> For 2009, a larger version of the fifth ball was introduced--an icosahedral geodesic sphere lit by 32,256 LED lamps . Its diameter is twice as wide as the 2008 ball, at 12 feet (3.7 m), and contains 2,688 Waterford Crystal panels, with a weight of 11,875 pounds (5,386 kg). It was designed to be weatherproof, as the ball would now be displayed atop One Times Square nearly year - round following the celebrations . </P> <P> Yearly themes for the ball's crystal panels continued; from 2008 to 2013, the ball contained crystal patterns that were part of a Waterford series known as "World of Celebration", including themes such as "Let There Be Light" and "Let There Be Peace". For 2014, all the ball's panels were replaced, marking a new theme series known as "Greatest Gifts", beginning with "Gift of Imagination". </P> <P> The numerical sign indicating the year (which remains atop the tower along with the ball itself) uses Philips LED lamps . For 2014, the final two digits of the sign used bulbs from the company's "Hue" line of multi-color LED lamps, allowing them to have computerized lighting cues . </P>

Who makes the crystal ball in times square