Planet-timer "device" from 1970s or 1980s possibly by Edmund Scientific
I ended up finding this on page 14 of the Edmund Scientific Holiday Sale catalog, with sale ending on December 31, 1983:



except that it's "Planetimer" (and not "Planet-timer"), catalog number H9454.

A 1200dpi image somewhat shows how it's supposed to work:



My original question was going to be: could this device have worked?

I would also appreciate any other information on this product (including a better scan, ideally of the product itself, if anyone still has one).

For reference, here is the page on which the ad appears and the cover of the catalog in which I found it: