This NYC tradition dates back to the 19th century. The dropping of the New Year's Eve ball in Times Square has been a tradition for over 100 years. The first ball was only six feet in diameter, made of iron and wood and only weighed 700 pounds.
Billions of people worldwide will be signaling the start of the new year in less than a week on New Year’s Eve, by staring with great anticipation at a big glowing ball slowly dropping. Why do we do this? What is the history behind this tradition and what the heck is a “time ball” anyway?
In the 1800’s, before official time zones were in place, ships’ captains would use something called a chronometer to keep track of time. It was basically a big pocket watch, but seas get rough and sometimes inaccuracies arose from the delicate device losing its levels. If the device wasn’t calibrated, captains might lose track of their speeds or “going-rates” and risk being mired by large fish shoals that would slow down their trip.
Allotting a specific time every day for sailors to essentially “sync their watches,” as we would do today. At 1:00 p.m., a ball would drop from a coastal naval observatory, that captains could see from their ships. The first one was installed at England’s Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. Now captains would be able to set their chronometers more accurately.
When Ochs was looking for a replacement symbol of celebration when his firework plans were dashed, he spared no expense and arranged a bright, 700-pound time ball of iron and wood to be lowered from the tower of the Times building at midnight to ring in 1908. Now all those watching would know when New York officially began the new year.
