I think that I would prefer the knock-out to be for a water level...
I think the speed option outside the timer dial outside the switch is pretty cool, and yes, I'll echo that the timer dial contained the wash temperature offering a hot or warm wash depending on where it was set, and you could reset the timer once the washer filled (though robbing it of its "automatic" properties) to the desired amount of time, and hopefully be satisfied with a cold rinse...
I wonder if this was the washer I would see an appliance store offer in its newspaper ads, and often with the suds happily up to the rim...
And me, cutting out an entire set of GE appliances from the newspaper, and taping them against the wall inside of the linen closet that was fun to play in until I got trapped under the shelves inside, and the doorknob couldn't be reached without a lot of screaming for mom to finally let me out... (A closet with the plumbing in the basement that once also housed the gas meter before it got moved outside was another closet, that the doorknob inside was designed not to turn, that I was also trapped inside of (with the light off actually) and my sister and I both got trapped in with the light on & Mom rescued us again)... But I deterred the entrapment, sawing away the portion of the wood-paneled wall that housed the latching plate so the door would just pull open and shut & when the basement got re-paneled the door got a knob and strike plate designed that way; no "hard" latch...
-- Dave