Camille Sebastien Nachet was a French instrument designer and lens grinder who studied with Vincent Chevalier before opening his own shop in 1840. In 1853, Nachet introduced this stereoscopic viewing head design, but he thought at the time that it was merely a curiosity. Gerard Turner has described the construction and history of this microscope head in fine detail.

The design incorporates a main and side viewing tube, with the latter being adjustable for correct viewing by a screw mechanism controlling a lever. Engraved on the main tube is the letter "A" and the side tube is engraved "B". Although Nachet did not believe the binocular head would receive much attention, it did attract some scientists who utilized the piece on their research microscopes.

Monocular microscopes were very popular during this period, and Nachet had made a number of microscopes that were able to be retrofitted with the binocular head. Although the model illustrated above is devoid of eyepieces, they might have been interchangeable with those intended for monocular microscopes.

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