The invention relates to a surgical microscope (1) and a method for observing an object (3) in an observation area (5) during surgery and to a retrofit-kit (41) for a surgical microscope (1). Solutions of the art may have an inflexible observation direction, require preoperative planning, and may be expensive and bulky. The inventive surgical microscope (1) overcomes these disadvantages by at least one optical carrier (47) for variably deflecting an observation axis (33) of an optical observation assembly (7) into an optical viewing axis (53) directed towards the observation area (5), the optical carrier (47) comprises at least one optical beam deflector (49) and is arranged between the optical observation assembly (7) and the observation area (5). The inventive method comprises the steps of variably deflecting an observation axis (33) of an optical observation assembly (7) into an optical viewing axis (53) directed towards the observation area (5); and propagating light (81) stemming from the observation area (5) essentially along the optical viewing axis (53) and the observation axis (33) and imaging said light (81) via an optical observation assembly (7).