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.  It is synchronized to the U.S. Naval Observatory’s atomic clock in Bethesda, Maryland. They are accurate to within 1 second every 20 billion years. It is supposedly worth between $10-20 million.  It is built of opalescent glass and brass.  

Not very many people know that there is a hidden staircase beneath the clock allowing the staff who work in the information desk to descend to the lower level where there is another information desk and a break room.

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.