What is attached to my pool timer?

[robdac]

Newbie here,
Just moved to a home with a pool and a failed Intermatic pool timer. Installed a new one myself. 220 Volt model T104M. It's working great. The old (broken) timer had this thing soldered to the two hot sides of the switch. What is it (capacitor? surge protector? electrical noise suppressor)? Only wording on the attachment is a large A, a smaller AA and 65 in reverse letters, like looking through a mirror. What was it for? Do I need it?
Thanks!
Rob

 

[Blueskies21]

Hmmmm. No Idea. Maybe it's a battery or a capacitor that someone wired into the circuit to keep the clock part of the timer working in the event of a power failure? How heavy is it? Does it have a charge?

 

[Richard320]

It looks like a capacitor. It's probably to keep the points from arcing when the timer turns on and off.