One of the most iconic places within the terminal is the center clock above the information desk. This is the clock which figured in many of the movies set in the Terminal. Despite some wishful thinking to the contrary, it was made out of opal glass and not unfortunately and actual opal. So it is not nearly worth the 10-20 million dollars that have been estimated. It was designed by Henry Edward Bedford, a sculptor and executive of the Self Winding Clock Company which built the clock with assistance from the Seth Thomas Clock Company, which made the movements. Over the years it has been somewhat eccentric in its mechanism and has needed some repair. In 1968 it was shot by a bullet from a ‘yippie’.
