well yes....
but one thing you needed, water pressure....
after all, you have X amount of time to fill a machine before agitation began....
the one advantage when pressure fill was introduced, was it could operate at a minimum pressure, usually 20psi, and no matter how long it took, agitation would not begin until that selected level was reached....
I have been to homes with such low water pressure, where it would take close to 3 hours for a load to complete.....