What Is It? (Number Five)

We haven't played "What is it?" in quite some time, and that's not because we stopped locating mysteries around the house. On the contrary, household mysteries keep turning up or they quietly reassert themselves. Like todays puzzle: this curious double switch is right in the middle of the kitchen counter.

Periodically, I wonder what it does or more saliently, what it did as it is not connected or attached to any function in our house. It announces itself as a "Nutone" and it has a dial that has numbers which would signify a certain precise application.
Perhaps when we switch it from one position to another, a garage door miraculously opens in Peoria. Or the lights dim dramatically in a dining room in upstate New York. Anyone ever see anything like it?