I do not understand why the clause "time is of the essence" would be necessary? If a contract states that something needs to be done on a certain date, isn't it clearly a violation if that is not done? For example "the repair man will fix the alarm system by February 1st." and he hasn't, why wouldn't this be a violation of the contract?
Is it that "time is of the essence" means it's a material violation, and not a non-material violation?