It’s a sight viewed by more than a billion people worldwide, but when the iconic glass ball is lowered at Times Square this New Year’s Eve most revelers won’t be able to notice its full artistry. From the ground, it’s impossible to see the detail in the hand-etched crystal that encases a marriage of artistic storytelling and technology.

This year’s ball features 72 panels of custom-made crystal — each depicting a dovelike angel arched in prayer — designed by artisans at Waterford Crystal. From Ireland, Waterford’s design director Jim O’Leary said craftsmen started work in August to cut and hand-finish pieces for this year’s panels. In all, each piece will have been handled by 20 Waterford specialists.

The 72 new panels have been arranged with 432 other crystal panels and fixed to an aluminum sphere frame that houses a “technological work of art,” Mr. O’Leary said. “Visualize 600 light bulbs in an area six feet in diameter. And another 168 lights on the outside. It’s a very small area to put 600 bulbs and all the wiring.”

The 1,070-pound ball also has 96 interior strobe lights and 90 exterior rotating pyramid mirrors. The crystal panels have two sizes: 324 triangular panels, each with sides measuring just under six inches, and 180 smaller triangular panels, with sides just under and over five inches.

Mr. O’Leary describes the overall effect — which includes a computerized multicolored light show — as a melding of art and technology. It’s a case of both technology driving the art and art driving the technology, he said. But he admits that since it’s difficult for people to see the detail work in the crystal, it’s a challenge to convey the message of this year’s theme, which is the hope for peace.

“Angels, as well as doves, are often seen as messengers of peace, and it is hoped that this will bring tidings of good news,” Waterford spokesman Pete Cheyney said.

The geodesic structure — which refers to its interlocking triangles — makes it physically strong enough to support the weight of the ball. That strength allows the ball to be used in some of the nastiest weather of the year: In the 98 years the ball has dropped since 1907, it never failed to come down — not through storms and high winds. If the ball were not as strong as it is, inclement weather might force the cancellation of the event for fear of damage to the ball or the crowd. This weekend will mark the 99th year of celebration and the final show for the “Star of Hope Ball”, which began with Waterford’s initial involvement in 1999.

Crystal is superior to glass as a material for the ball because crystal has a much higher index of refraction, which is a measure of how much light is thrown back to the viewer. But the ball was not always made of crystal. Its predecessors have always been adorned with light bulbs but have had a range of internal structures from the original wood and iron ball (1907), iron only (1920), and aluminum (1955). Multicolored lights — green and red — were first used in 1981, and rhinestones and computer-controlled strobes were first used in 1995, according to Times Square Alliance, a nonprofit civic organization.

“I’m not knocking it. It did the job, but it was a crude affair,” Mr. O’Leary said, referring to the 1995 version.

The current ball is estimated to be worth more than $1 million, with Waterford spending about $300,000 each year to add 72 handcrafted crystal panels for the hope theme of the year: Star of Hope (2000), Hope for Abundance (2001), Healing (2002), Courage (2003), Unity (2004), Wisdom (2005), and Fellowship (2006). Next year, a new series will be unveiled for the 100-year anniversary of the Times Square Ball lowering.

Though the Times Square ball-lowering event has become the worldwide venue for heralding in the New Year, the time-keeping tradition dates back to at least 1833 when a “time-ball” was dropped from England’s Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Around 150 timeballs have been used around the world since then, although few remain today.

New Year’s Eve revelers have been gathering in Times Square since 1904, but the first Times Square ball was not dropped until 1907. Each year since then, with the exception of 1942 and 1943, when New York City was under a wartime light dim-out, the ball has made its descent 11:59 p.m., taking 60 seconds to slide down a 77-foot pole and mark the precise moment of transition from one year into the next. At the stroke of midnight the ball’s bulbs will turn off and the numerals 2007 will light up from high above Times Square — and a new year will begin.