@freemo Especially if one includes the Intellectual Property used.
@freemo Oh I didn't think about it like that. If it was a climate control system they could have used analog computational components that would work well enough. A 24 hour clock could drive a replaceable disk that would activate different relays according to the time.
IE Newtonian Heating and Cooling could be used when implemented with approximate value disks. For more heat the value of the relays could increase via a potentiometer. For less heat the voltage to the heating coils could be reduced proportional to the time of day.
If it's difficult to visualize, just think about a music box. It was the 50s so why not have a bunch of rotating disks in the wall just to get the desired temperature range for a residence?